NCAE
NEWS BULLETIN April
2017
NORTH CAROLINA ASSOCIATION OF EDUCATORS
Volume 47, No. 8
Let’s Give Our Students the Schools They Deserve! House Bill 13 would provide a shortterm fix to new class size caps passed in last year’s budget, which also eliminated the limited flexibility local school districts have around class sizes. The House has already approved unanimously and it awaits Senate action. Last year’s budget provided very limited resources and a narrow timeline to meet the new requirements. Traditionally, local school districts have used the limited flexibility to fund music, art, physical education, and world language teachers. If quick action is not taken to restore this flexibility, as many as 4,500 teaching positions could be in jeopardy. “NCAE and our educators are supportive of smaller class sizes, but you can’t do it haphazardly, and in a way that jeopardizes the kind of education and the kinds of schools our students deserve,” said NCAE President Mark Jewell. “Our students deserve schools with wellrounded and diverse curriculum that meets the needs of all our children.” One way to help solve this issue long term is for our elected leaders to make a strong commitment to public education by elevating North Carolina’s per-pupil funding to at least the national average. North Carolina’s per-pupil expenditure is $3,000 per student behind the national average, which currently ranks the state 43rd in the nation. This comes at a time
Members, parents, and public education supporters from the community joined NCAE for a press conference in front of the General Assembly to tell lawmakers to fix HB 13 and increase the per-pupil expenditure.
when the state is enjoying $500 million surpluses and Senate leaders are proposing billion dollar tax cuts that favor corporations and the wealthy. “It’s about priorities,” added Jewell. “We should be prioritizing our classrooms, not corporate boardrooms.” While North Carolina’s per-pupil ranking has gone up slightly, we continue to fall further behind. In 2011-12, North Carolina was more than $2,300 behind the national average. Currently North Carolina’s per-pupil expenditure is
Join the “Schools Our Students Deserve” Campaign During National Teacher Appreciation Week -- May 8-13
$8,898. The U.S. average is $11,943. In addition, North Carolina’s textbook and technology fund is woefully inadequate and behind pre-recession levels, and the state’s average teacher pay continues to land us in the bottom tier of states. Our students deserve better than this. Let’s invest in our public school classrooms and give North Carolina the schools our students deserve by raising per-pupil spending to at least the national average. In celebration of National Teacher Appreciation Week next month, the Association will sponsor the “Schools Our Students Deserve” Campaign. Some of the planned activities include walk-ins, town hall meetings, and a lobby day at the General Assembly. Members will also be asked to Wear Red for Public Ed. More information will be available on the NCAE Web site and social media pages.