Raleigh Passes The Buck, Not The Test

Researchers studying voucher systems in communities like Cleveland and Milwaukee where they have been in place for years, have found no significant academic improvement between students using a voucher paid with tax dollars to attend private schools and their public school counterparts. So if vouchers don't fix academic problems why are so many in Raleigh pushing so hard for them? Because it passes the buck.

Senate Budget Proposal Fails Our Students

The state Senate approved its budget proposal this week and as expected it offers nearly no support for education.

The budget, approved along party lines in the Republican-held Senate, falls about $135 million short of what's needed to keep current standards. Standards, we remind you, that were already drastically lowered during the Great Recession by about $1 billion.

Here's a quick breakdown of the damage the Senate budget would do:

Raleigh Might Fail Our Children But We Shouldn't

Guilford Education Alliance takes its responsibility as the county's leading non-partisan, education advocacy organization seriously and advocates only for those things that are proven to be in the best interest of our public school children. On May 11 the county board of education approved its 2013-2014 budget, including a request for $13.6 more in local funding from Guilford County. We urge the Guilford County Board of Commissioners and citizens to do all they can to honor this request.

For several years now, while the state legislature cut millions from our schools and other county's cut their own local education funding, Guilford County Commissioners held their contribution to our local schools steady. Guilford Education Alliance applauds our county commissioners their strength and courage during those dark economic times.

The Education Alliance, like the school board, fears that our state legislators will fail again this year to justly support our schools. But we are optimistic that our local elected officials can do better.

Bills To Watch

We've written about the numerous legislative proposals being considered in the North Carolina General Assembly and how they could devastate public education. We thought it might be helpful to create a few lists of those bills, what they could mean for public education in our state and where each is in the process of becoming law.

Hold The Line No More

Over the past five years, Guilford Education Alliance has applauded the Board of County Commissioners for maintaining local funding to Guilford County Schools. Our county commissioners did so while their counterparts in other counties, particularly in sister urban districts, cut into the local funding of their schools.

And remember, these cuts were being made at a time when the state cut millions from education funding as well.

Guilford Education Alliance applauds the Guilford County Board of Education, Superintendent Maurice “Mo” Green and his staff as well. Because of their leadership our schools maintained stability and earned amazing growth in academic achievement, in spite of the almost $75 million in state funding the school district lost in cuts and redirections since 2009.

During these incredibly lean years Guilford County Schools still managed to kick off new initiatives as outlined in the 2013 Strategic Plan, such as Character Education and Service Learning, a program that has received national recognition; having traditional high schools lead those across the state in graduation rates and Middle College/Early College high schools with 100 percent graduation rates; launching and building new schools; maintaining support for arts/music education and initiating the African American male initiative; and lifting up teachers and principals to North Carolina recognition levels.

We must not let this growth and achievement be threatened by continued cuts. We must begin to restore the impact the cuts have made such as adding 60+ more teachers for our students, and beginning to restore class size to previous levels.

Added to the pressures of having fewer resources for academic programs have been the increasing costs of line items such as utilities and retirement benefits and health care coverage for employees. And these are just the expenses to keep the doors open. Enrollment continues to increase in Guilford County Schools while Charter Schools siphon funding away from our public schools.

Guilford Education Alliance regards the Annual Budget for our schools as the “meat and potatoes,” the central ingredients for our district’s success. Funding public education is necessary to ensure each child gets the instruction and attention he/she needs to be fully prepared for success in life.

Guilford Education Alliance agrees that IT'S TIME for our community to STEP UP and support our children, parents and teachers with action. Guilford Education Alliance is calling on our county commissioners and school board to be visionaries once more and approve Superintendent Green's request for appropriate funding of Guilford County Schools.

The school board is expected to adopt a budget during its May 14 meeting, including a request for local funding from the county. A public hearing on the proposed county budget, including the school board's request, has not been scheduled yet.