Author: R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D.<\/p>\n
Currently, the North Carolina Board of Education is the ultimate authority over public education in the state. Local county Boards of Education have relatively little control over staffing requirements, overall funding, and subjects taught in the schools. Let\u2019s see how this is working out.<\/p>\n
As reported previously, on average, less than 50% of students in North Carolina public schools are meeting expected minimum grade levels. When most of us attended school, if you failed to meet minimum achievement in reading, math, spelling, etc. you received a grade of \u201cF\u201d. Therefore, we taxpayers who are paying an average of over $10,000 per student are not getting what we are generously paying for. The current state Board of Education deserves an \u201cF\u201d since they are failing to do their job of educating our children.<\/p>\n
The current system is obviously broken and needs to be fixed. My recommended solution is as follows: The existing ultimate authority for the public schools should be taken from the state Board of Education and given to the local county Boards of Education. Here are the reasons: First, our country was founded on the belief that the closer the governing entity is to the people the better. As a result, most local governing is more responsive and in touch with the people than a governing entity in Raleigh. Second, and this is critical, the members of the local Boards of Education are elected by the people, whereas the members of the state Board of Education are appointed by the Governor who selects the majority from his political party. If the local public schools are not performing up to expectations, then the members of the local Boards of Education can be replaced by voting them out of office. Third, the state Board of Education is more likely to be influenced by the teacher\u2019s association which is a de-facto union that influences many of our state elected officials. This was obvious during the COVID outbreak when the teacher associations\/unions strongly advocated for wearing masks and closing schools. Fourth, most of the worrisome leftist issues such as Critical Race Theory, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), and transgender ideology are introduced and required by the state Board of Education. Fifth, allowing each local Board of Education to experiment with different approaches to educating their children is more likely to discover more effective teaching strategies that best serve the needs of our children.<\/p>\n
Now, this proposal is going to require a change in North Carolina\u2019s General Statutes by the state legislature. But what do we have to lose? The children\u2019s academic achievement has been decreasing for decades. It makes no sense to continue to support a failing system. Do our elected officials have the courage to make a drastic change that is guaranteed to provoke outrage from the teachers, administrators, etc.? We can only hope.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Author: R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D. Currently, the North Carolina Board of Education is the ultimate authority over public education in the state. Local county Boards of Education have relatively little control over staffing requirements, overall funding, and subjects taught in … Continue reading