Public School Forum

A think-and-do tank committed to North Carolina public schools

Education Matters – Is a Class Size Fix Coming?

Topic: Is a Class Size Fix Coming? Last week, hundreds of parents, teachers and students descended on Raleigh calling on the General Assembly to address the K-3 class size mandate they say is creating chaos in schools across the state. Now that legislators have adjourned again without taking action, what will happen next? Guests Include: Sen. […]

Education Matters – NC’s School Funding Divide

Topic:  NC’s School Funding Divide At a time of intense focus by state leaders on how schools are funded in North Carolina, a new study out this week show a stark and growing gap between the highest and lowest-wealth counties in the state, particularly urban and rural school districts. We discuss with one of study’s […]

Friday Report – January 12, 2018

This week in #nced: ‘We’re not going away.’ Rally urges lawmakers to fund K-3 class size reductions; New School Finance Study Confirms Vast Funding Disparities Across NC, and more…

School Finance Study Confirms Vast Funding Disparities Across North Carolina

By Keith Poston For more than 20 years the Public School Forum of North Carolina has produced an annual school finance study that examines education funding in North Carolina by isolating local spending from state and federal spending to examine the capacity and actual effort of counties to support public schools. Our 2018 edition confirms […]

2018 Local School Finance Study

RALEIGH, NC (January 9, 2018) – A new study released today by the Public School Forum of North Carolina confirms a chronic and growing gap in public school funding between the highest and lowest-wealth counties in the state. This annual study comes at a time of intense focus on how public schools are funded in […]

Education Matters – Legislative Preview and the Class Size Mandate

Topic: Legislative Preview and the Class Size Mandate The General Assembly will re-convene next week for a special continuation of the 2017 regular session. Will the class size mandate or principal pay be addressed? What else should be on the legislative agenda for education? We’ll discuss with our panel. Guests Include: Dr. Tim Markley, Superintendent, […]

Friday Report – January 5, 2018

This week in #nced: NC Superintendent Shares Predictions for Public Schools in 2018; In CMS, Smaller K-3 Classes Will Mean 200 More Trailers and More Crowding Elsewhere

Education Matters – Conversation with Governor Jim Hunt

Topic: Conversation with Governor Jim Hunt A one-on-one conversation with the original “Education Governor”, four-term North Carolina Governor James B. Hunt, Jr. We discuss how he made education a priority for the state and what he sees as the challenges and opportunities to bring people together on behalf of NC’s children. Guest: Governor James B. […]

Education Matters – The New NC Teaching Fellows Program

Topic: The New NC Teaching Fellows Program The original NC Teaching Fellows Program was eliminated by the General Assembly in 2011. This year legislators created a new version of the forgivable loan program targeting STEM and special education teachers. We talk with Deans from two of the Schools of Education recently selected for the inaugural […]

Will North Carolina Schools See a Fix in January for the Class Size Crisis?

By Lindsay Wagner North Carolina school districts counting on a January legislative fix to the class size mandate that’s having a big impact on schools and families may need a plan B. House lawmakers say they are keenly interested in legislative action next month that would either delay implementation of a new law requiring districts […]

Education Matters – Childhood Trauma & Learning

Topic: Childhood Trauma & Learning Studies show that children who regularly experience trauma score lower than their peers on standardized tests are more likely to fail a grade, are placed in special education more frequently and are more likely to be suspended and expelled. Research has helped to answer the question why — and the […]

Without action, class size mandate threatens Pre-K in some school districts

Children attend Pre-K at Warren County’s Mariam Boyd Elementary School in Warrenton. Photo Credit: Warren County Schools. By Lindsay Wagner Without the necessary time and money to build more elementary school classrooms to satisfy the General Assembly’s requirement to lower class sizes next year in kindergarten through third grades, Warren County Schools’ Superintendent Dr. Ray […]

Education Matters – Voucher School Controversy

Topic: Voucher School Controversy Trinity Christian School in Fayetteville has received more taxpayer dollars via the state’s private school voucher program than any other school in the state. It’s also home to an embezzlement scandal involving a teacher who runs the school’s elite basketball program while spending weekends in jail. We take a closer look […]

Out of Bounds: Embezzlement and Basketball at North Carolina’s Biggest Voucher School

By Lindsay Wagner Senior Writer When a coach at one of Fayetteville’s top private school basketball programs—a school that also happens to be the state’s top recipient of private school vouchers—pleaded guilty last summer in a Wake County courthouse to embezzling hundreds of thousands of tax withholding dollars he collected over eight years from the […]