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We need to upgrade our school buildings. The legislature blew it.

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When the General Assembly’s short session began last month, proponents of public education were eagerly waiting for lawmakers to take up a proposed $1.9 billion school bond for inclusion on November’s general election ballot.

Despite rank-and-file support in both parties and in both chambers, the Public School Building Bond Act of 2017 was rejected by a powerful gatekeeper. Sen. Phil Berger’s move to block the public from determining whether it’s in our children’s best interest to relieve overcrowding and renovate crumbling schoolhouses is just the latest example of our state distancing itself from its constitutional duty to ‘guard and maintain’ public education and requiring counties to carry more of the burden for funding it.

North Carolina residents deserve to be represented by those who put the needs of our children ahead of their own accumulation of wealth and power.

To read the entirety of this perspective, originally published by the News & Observer, click here.