LAST WEEK’S RESULTS
Which education issue is most crucial for the General Assembly to address in the legislative session?
QUOTES FROM LAST WEEK
We are losing too many good teachers to higher paying jobs, often in the same town. Some, that can move, are also going to other states. In order to improve the quality of the education system in NC we must have quality teachers. Quality teachers must be compensated fairly or they will leave.
-Shelley from Greenville, NC
Per pupil spending should absolutely be on this list. Our kids are simply not getting what they need – they need more staff, better resources, repairs to buildings, teacher assistants, teachers who have the time and small classes needed to do their work well… Those things are not fixed just by paying teachers more (though we need that too!).
-Riley from Greensboro, NC
THE QUESTION OF THE WEEK
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a federal law banning gambling in most states. Do you think North Carolina should legalize sports betting?
OUR PICKS
Children of the Opioid Epidemic | NYTimes Magazine 5/9/2018
“Nearly 90 percent of pregnancies among women who abuse opioid medications are unintended.”
Why So Many Gifted Yet Struggling Students are Hidden in Plain Sight | NPR 5/9/2018
“You shouldn’t have to have a certain threshold on an IQ test to be able to make the world a better place,” says Scott Kaufman. Once in special education classes, Kaufman graduated with degrees from Yale and Cambridge.
NATION’S NOTES
The short session of the NC General Assembly is here. Our colleague Alex Granados has the story on what one might expect. All eyes will be on the budget that is in play to be revised — and the $350 million surplus that is now available. Legislative leaders told Alex that despite the teacher rally, they expect teacher pay to remain the same, while Governor Cooper released a budget proposal calling for teacher pay raises. One question before the state this week is whether or not the rally will build momentum toward the surplus being in play for teacher priorities. I’d love to hear what you think (send an email to nhahn@ednc.org with your thoughts)!
In addition to teacher priorities, we’re looking at issues that affect students. We’ve released a statewide survey to learn why students are missing school. Fill it out with your thoughts here!
I’d love for you to let us know what you think about this newsletter. Are the links informative? Do you enjoy responding to the Question of the Week? Are we boring you? Giving you some delight in your day? We’re all ears. Send an email to nhahn@ednc.org, text NATION to 73224, or tag us on social @ReachNCVoices.
All the best,
Nation
P.S.
Happy birthday to our Reach NC Voices member, Jennifer Srivastava (coming up on May 19th)! Let us know your birthday when you fill out our Question of the Week poll and you might get a shout out in our newsletter, too!
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