Key Takeaways
- Investments in school counselors, school construction, and veteran educator pay parity were a priority of the North Carolina Association of Educators and do show a tentative good faith commitment to the well-being of our educators, students and their families.
- To fully secure the foundation of public education, more needs to be done to fulfill the constitutional mandates to education required by the state in the Leandro decision and increases to vouchers and charter schools need to be reversed.
- The budget introduced by Governor Cooper provided the funding our students and public schools needed for long-term success.
“The budget introduced by Governor Cooper provided the funding our students and public schools needed for long-term success. While the House budget does not reflect the infusion of robust resources that would fully restore North Carolina’s education funding, it does represent a cautious step forward for North Carolina’s public school students after years of moving backwards,” said NCAE President Tamika Walker Kelly. “Investments in school counselors, school construction, and veteran educator pay parity were a priority of the North Carolina Association of Educators and do show a tentative good faith commitment to the well-being of our educators, students and their families. But to fully secure the foundation of public education, more needs to be done to fulfill the constitutional mandates to education required by the state in the Leandro decision and increases to vouchers and charter schools need to be reversed. We are disappointed that both chambers continue to ignore the will of the public to invest the billions of dollars that are currently unspent in the state’s coffers, which could be put to work immediately addressing the needs of our schools. Our students need, and deserve, better.”
