Education will be prime focus in this year's legislative agenda

A Priori Concepts had this yesterday:

The following is a press release form the Republican Joint Legislative Caucus:

Aggressive Agenda Planned

Senate Republican Leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) and House Republican Leader Paul Stam (R-Wake) today announced plans to pursue an aggressive education agenda in the current legislative session. Republican Leaders along with Representative Fred Steen (R-Rowan) pointed to the Report Card on American Education from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) as a wake-up call for fundamental changes to improve the quality of educational opportunities for North Carolina students.

The ALEC report, released today, ranked North Carolina 30th in the nation based on fourth- and eighth-grade mathematics and reading scores as well as SAT and ACT scores. It was noted that despite public spending increases over the years, measured results remain disappointing.

Specific initiatives supported by these Republican lawmakers include:

* Require the use of national normed testing to provide consistency in measuring academic progress
* Reward our best teachers with merit and differential pay rather than the current system of pay based on longevity and credentials
* Enhance career, technical and vocation programs in high schools
* Eliminate the current cap on charter schools to allow families to exercise greater educational options for their children

Rep. Steen discussed the significance of findings in the ALEC “Report Card” to North Carolina’s educational challenges. He emphasized that extensive data from 1987-88 to 2007-08 indicates there is no direct correlation between public funding and achievement.

“In this time of shrinking financial resources we must seize the opportunity to bring critically needed change to our education system. The initiatives we advocate will not increase education funding, but will significantly improve student achievement as well as provide much needed options for the diverse group of students we serve,” said Stam.

“North Carolina’s graduation rate is abysmal,” said Senator Berger. “When one-in-three students are failing to graduate on time from our public schools, the future economic viability of North Carolina is at risk. This survey confirms that despite huge public expenditures, North Carolina’s schools and North Carolina’s elected leaders are failing our parents and students. Sadly, until we embark on a new direction in public education, we will continue to see the numbers stagnate.”

“As legislators, we should be more accountable to students, parents and taxpayers with education dollars and strive to make education reforms work for North Carolina,” said Rep. Fred Steen II. “The investment in knowledge is the best economic stimulus and that investment must not be wasted.”

These Republican lawmakers will introduce their initiatives over the next few weeks. They reported grass roots support from all across the state is expected to provide an increased sense of urgency for swift enactment.

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I do not disagree.

If anything, I'm wondering where our old friend Judge Howard (Leandro case) Manning has been hiding. You remember him...he was a cheerleader of attempting to turnaround the state's most failing schools.

I wonder what he would say about this...and about this column from Terry Stoops of the John Locke Foundation, in which he calls for the immediate closing of failing schools and their immediate conversion to charter schools.

It'll be worth watching.

E.C. :)