Feb.7 Action Alert: Tell Legislators to Fully Fund the Comprehensive Remedial Plan

Feb.7 Action Alert: Tell Legislators to Fully Fund the Comprehensive Remedial Plan

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Type: 
News

Dear LWVNC Members: 

Teachers are the most important influence on student success, and the trauma of the COVID epidemic underscores the necessity for high-quality teachers and support of our most vulnerable students. While we were already experiencing teacher shortages pre-pandemic, far more teachers are now leaving the profession because they feel overwhelmed and unsupported. North Carolina education cannot succeed when an increasing proportion of teachers are quitting or planning to quit. 

Two teachers poignantly shared the dilemma that teachers face:  

“Teachers this year, more than ever before, are being pushed to their breaking point.  We are already required to be parents, counselors, and coaches on top of being teachers.  But this year, we have added doctors and nurses to our resume.…Teachers aren’t leaving because of teaching.  Teachers are leaving because of all of the expectations they have set upon them that having nothing to do with the one job for which they were hired.” – early career teacher

“Continuing to teach in North Carolina in these working conditions is the equivalent of being asked to remain in an abusive relationship, and to be forced to watch as the same abuser intentionally neglects the children you love.”  – veteran teacher and parent

Instead of finding ways to retain these valuable, resolute teachers and recruit and prepare new teachers, elected state legislators are arguing about who controls the purse strings for education – the legislature or the courts. This dispute has delayed the implementation of the Comprehensive Remedial Plan for NC Public Education. 

In November, our legislature’s budget bill failed to fund essentially half of the costs recommended in the Comprehensive Remedial Plan. This shortfall has a hugely negative impact on teacher retention and recruitment.

Furthermore, the NC Legislature has ignored students with special needs who lost the most instructional ground in the last two years. The NC Legislature has continued to harm our students by underfunding the needs of: 

  • Exceptional Children,
  • Children of Poverty,
  • English Language Learners, and 
  • Children who live in less affluent rural areas. 
What is the solution?
Listening to 1,270 educators from all eight regions of our state and examining best practices in North Carolina and nationwide formed the basis for a plan. The Comprehensive Remedial Plan considers the needs of students regardless of race, income, and urban or rural residence. The conclusions emphasize efforts to retain and strengthen current teachers and to attract new teachers. The resulting strategic recommendations include, but are not limited to:
  • a robust Teaching Fellows program, 
  • a strong teacher mentoring program,
  • personalized and ongoing professional development, 
  • competitive salaries.  
For too long, we have neglected to provide a “sound basic education” to all North Carolina students. When implemented, the Comprehensive Remedial Plan will support well-prepared and effective teachers in every classroom. Fully funding the plan will help assure that North Carolina has an educated workforce necessary to move our state forward. It is time to provide adequate investment in our students, thus fulfilling a constitutional and moral obligation to our children and to North Carolina’s future.

 

Can we afford this?
We can afford this! The state had a surplus of $4 billion going into 2021, which grew to more than $9 billion in unreserved funds by October. Only a portion of this surplus is necessary to fully fund the programs in the Comprehensive Remedial Plan for the first three years. Adequate funding for these higher need students will support teachers and provide incentives for them to remain in our most challenging schools to do the work they love –to ensure the motivation, learning, and achievement of every child. 
 
STEPS YOU CAN TAKE
  • Educate yourself about the disastrous implications of the Legislature withholding statewide funding for education.  
  • Listen to your teachers, principals, superintendents, parents, and students to discover their concerns and challenges.  
  • Communicate the impact of limited funding on your local school district and across this state.   

Let your legislators and other public officials know that the Comprehensive Remedial Plan should be fully funded – and that any further delay in wholly implementing the Plan has catastrophic consequences in teacher retention and student learning. You will find a sample message below. Find contact information for your state legislators using this link.

 

SAMPLE MESSAGE

Dear Representative/Senator: 

Despite unprecedented revenue in the state reserves, the state budget falls woefully short of adequately funding our public education system. In this precarious time of teacher shortages, student learning loss, and eroding confidence in our institutions –all exacerbated by the pandemic – a failure to fully fund our schools is not only a breach of constitutional duty but that of the moral responsibility owed our children.
As your constituent, I am writing to request that you take immediate action to allocate the state funds in the NC Budget to meet the requirements of the Comprehensive Remedial Plan. Fund our local public schools now! Uphold our state constitution’s promise to provide at least a sound, basic education for all our students. 

The current budget funds essentially half of the Comprehensive Remedial Plan. Full funding requires neither raising taxes nor impacting other vital state services. Providing a sound education for our public-school students will generate increased revenues to the state for years. Having a trained and educated population will attract large and small businesses to all of North Carolina in a sustainable growth pattern for decades to come. Our future generations can have better lives because of your action today. The general public is tired or waiting and are repulsed by the political fights that lead to delayed action. 

Respectfully, 

Your Constituent [NAME] 
This article is related to which committees: 
Education
League to which this content belongs: 
North Carolina