Gov. Josh Stein and state Superintendent of Public Instruction Maurice “Mo” Green visited Bluford STEM Academy in Greensboro on Wednesday to highlight literacy instruction during Public Schools Week.
Public Schools Week is held each year Feb. 23-27. In his proclamation of the week, Stein encouraged residents across North Carolina to support public schools and educators by advocating for funding and celebrating the good that is happening in schools.
“North Carolina’s public schools are essential to our state’s prosperity and are the foundation of our communities, providing opportunities for all children and ensuring that our state has a strong, well-educated workforce and well-informed people,” the proclamation says.
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During the visit, Green and Stein observed reading instruction in fourth and fifth grade classrooms. The state officials were then led to a planning and work session, where educators in advanced teaching roles were seen helping newer teachers improve their planning and curriculum.
Guilford County Schools Superintendent Whitney Oakley previously told EdNC that the district is seeing positive results from its literacy investment in early grades. In K-2 classrooms, the curriculum is aligned with the Science of Reading, which focuses on students’ ability to decode, and build fluency and early comprehension skills. After building stamina in middle school, by high school students are practicing critical reading and writing for analysis, synthesis, and real-world contexts, the superintendent said.
According to Oakley and recent school report card data, the district has seen reading proficiency gains during the 2023-24 and 2024-25 academic years.
“Our approach is a strategic response to what both research and North Carolina industry leaders say students need to access opportunities after graduation,” Oakley told EdNC. “While building strong readers and writers is important, the true measure of success lies in how students apply these skills beyond the classroom.”
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During a Wednesday press conference, Stein said that when he asks businesses why they move to North Carolina, their number one reason is workforce development.
“We are the number one state in the country where people from other states are moving to. That adds strain, of course, to our schools, our roads, our electrical grid,” Stein said. “So what we have to do is make sure we’re making wise investments today in our public schools, so that we continue to produce the talent.”
Stein and Green both talked about the need for lawmakers to pass a comprehensive state budget that invests in teachers and public schools. EdNC has previously analyzed the Senate and House budget proposals.
“Our public schools open doors of opportunity for students, providing them with the education to learn new knowledge and skills, explore their passions, and prepare for the workforce,” Stein said in a press release. “If we believe our children are our future, then we must invest in them.”
“When we invest in our public schools, our students can achieve educational excellence,” Green added, noting recent state records broken in four-year graduation rates, Advanced Placement (AP) participation rates and scores, and Career and Technical Education (CTE) credentials earned.
On Wednesday, the governor said that investing in public schools starts with raising teacher pay to the highest in the Southeast, which he also recommended in his 2025-27 biennium budget proposal.
“We are 49th in the country in terms of per-pupil investment at the state level,” Stein said. “We’re last in the country in terms of our funding effort — what we could contribute through our state GDP. That doesn’t mean miraculous things are not happening in our schools — they are, but we could be so much better if we invested a little bit more.”
Green added that the additional funding would be an investment in something that is working.
“Certainly, there’s opportunities for improvement within our public school system. No one would suggest otherwise, but it’s a situation where those dollars, if invested in our public schools, will only further increase the performance that we’re already being able to celebrate,” Green said.
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