Education Law Changes

            For the first time in the eleven years I have been living in North Carolina, I can say that I am happy with the results of legislation passed by our representatives in Raleigh.  In particular, I am pleased with the state's tax reforms.  They not only will reduce income taxes beginning next year, they will also make North Carolina a much more attractive state in which to do business.  I am hopeful that this last change will have a positive effect on our community.  Goodness knows we could use more employers in Perquimans County.

            Other changes have not been met with equal enthusiasm, especially legislation affecting education.  Overall spending for K-12 education is increasing by 2.1%, but there are some changes in the budget that will leave teachers' unions and some individual teachers grumbling. 
            One of those changes eliminates tenure; teachers will no longer earn lifetime security after four years of teaching.  Up to now, it has been almost impossible to fire teachers who enjoy the protection of tenure's security umbrella.  That only 17 of North Carolina's 97,184 teachers were fired last year is proof of that.  I know from personal experience as a school board member for 13 years that a small school district cannot afford to fight a well-funded union in court to remove incompetent, abusive, or uncaring teachers, even test cheats.   Merit pay and performance bonuses are much better inducements to excellence.   The legislature gets a gold star from me on this one.
            Another change unpopular among teachers is the elimination of extra pay for a master's degree.  The legislature relied on research showing that teachers with advanced degrees are no more effective on average than those without them.  The change seems to suggest that teachers obtain these degrees just to get a boost in salary.  That charge may be unfair in many cases.   Unfortunately, the reputations of good teachers who work hard to improve themselves can be sullied by others, like a guidance counselor I knew who waited 25 years to go for his doctorate so he could increase his base pay before retiring and thus get a big boost in his pension.  Here again, I think merit pay and performance bonuses are a better way to reward  excellence in the classroom.
            I hope our legislature will not stop here.  Anyone who looks at the superiority of educational systems in places as far distant as South Korea and Sweden knows that there is a lot of room for improvement here at home.  I'm likely to get a lot of flack on this one, but I am a big proponent of increased school hours and  a longer school year (perhaps through year-round classes).  I also support charter schools and school vouchers; North Carolina is inching in this direction, but needs to do much more.  And we should give more high school students the option of either preparing for college or acquiring the hands-on technical skills to enter the job market upon graduation.  
           Finally, we need to update a curriculum that is not competitive with other countries in math and science, and leaves so many graduating students pathetically clueless on the principles of freedom and democracy and the history of our country. 
            When I was a kid, we studied something called Civics.  Now the kids all think Civics are cars made by Honda.