Education
We must have an educated workforce to support business expansion and secure the future growth of this county and the State as we improve our economy. The marketplace will offer jobs in the trades and in occupations that our current state structure does not sufficiently support.
Despite the fact that North Carolina has the highest number of National Certified teachers (www.ncpublicschools.org) in the country and devotes 57% of it’s budget to education ( over $12 billion this past year), we have not experienced the levels of student achievement commensurate with that level of investment. How is that possible with those kinds of outstanding resources? Our teachers are not at fault nor is it that we are not sufficiently funding our educational system.
Education in North Carolina is in a transitional phase. More emphasis is being placed on parental choice, student achievement and teacher effectiveness. While some believe that “pay- for – performance” is a step in the right direction to incent a teacher to strive for better student results, it poses many difficult questions as to how one can evaluate a teacher’s performance fairly and comparatively, when the paradigm from classroom to classroom is often extremely different. Additionally, many factors contributing to a student’s success are totally outside the control of the teacher.
A compensation plan that starts with a reasonable, flexible, competitive base salary, coupled with an opportunity to supplement ones pay, based on individual total effectiveness, may offer the best opportunities for a return on investment for the student, the teacher and the State. It is important, however, that this supplemental income be an Award, not a Reward ,but a recognition of the teachers effectiveness and efforts at self-improvement. In education, the competition to be the best one can be, must come from WITHIN teachers, not from AMONG them. The best teachers are not money motivated. The best teachers have the love of teaching and the success of their students as their primary goal, not financial reward.
We must continue to dispel the “one size fits all” mentality of a public school system as the sole means of educating our children. Children are individually unique and have different learning styles and distinct needs when it comes to education. By removing the cap on Charter schools, funding Regional and virtual schools, we have broadened the choices for parents to determine the education path best suited for their child. Initiatives such as Tax Credits for Students with Disabilities and last sessions Opportunity Scholarship Program, offer students with disabilities and students from low income families, the opportunity to attend a school that may be more suited for their individual needs. Some refinement of requirements may be considered but the correct course has been set and we must continue to support our children’s educational opportunities, including the traditional public school system.
We have taken some bold first steps over the last 5 years by passing more than 30 bills directly effecting change, in the right direction, for our education system. We increased choices for parents and students and created competition for our traditional schools. Our classroom teachers need more help to enhance the learning and the teaching experience for their students and themselves. Better compensation, the elimination of unnecessary testing and the reduction of redundant administrative requirements need to be addressed and resolved to enable our teachers to teach.