Etheridge says lawmakers short-changed education
Published August 9, 2013
by Jenny Drabble, Winston-Salem, Journal, August 7, 2013.
North Carolina should put more focus on education, a former congressman and state superintendent of public instruction told the Forsyth County Senior Democrats on Wednesday.
Bob Etheridge, who was the state superintendent of public instruction from 1989-1996, said the state has lost sight of what’s important. He was referring to the cuts to education by the Republican-dominated General Assembly for the 2013-15 budgets.
Critics have blasted the GOP for such things as failing to give raises to teachers for the fourth time in five years, cutting pay increases for teachers with advanced degrees, ending teacher tenure and cutting 3,800 teaching assistant positions, which some say will increase class sizes.
“Education is the foundation for everything, and our lawmakers have forgotten who we are as a state and discarded the value of education,” said Etheridge, 72, who was also a former state representative and North Carolina’s U.S. representative in the 2nd congressional district. “We need to get North Carolina back on track.”
Etheridge said more money needs to be spent on improving the quality of education.
According to National Education Association rankings released in February, the average amount of money spent for each student in North Carolina in the 2012-13 school year ranks above only Texas, Arizona and Utah. Teacher salaries in North Carolina rank 48th out of the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
In 2004-05, North Carolina ranked 26th in average salaries of public school teachers, according to the NEA.
“The teachers of our state are underpaid, overworked and underappreciated. We need to change that,” Etheridge said at the Golden Corral on University Parkway to a crowd of about 80 that included almost 20 retired teachers.
Etheridge urged those at the meeting to contact their state representatives, register to vote and teach their grandchildren about the importance of education.
“We’re not so far removed that we can’t turn this around, but we have to start now,” said Etheridge, who was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination for governor in 2012. “Our joints may be stiff, but we can still dial a phone and give our opinions.”
Marjorie Northup, who said she has been a member of the county’s Senior Democrats for more than 20 years, said North Carolinians have to get more involved in the schools.
“Most of us here are retired, so we need to go out there and volunteer at our local schools and make them the schools we want them to be,” she said.
Three Democratic candidates for the Winston-Salem City Council also spoke, echoing Etheridge’s urging to act now.
August 9, 2013 at 11:39 am
Vicky Hutter says:
The NC General Assembly has increased the amount to be spent on public education in the coming budget. The public schools have always been considered sacrosanct by Democrats. In the past, items not supported by the NC voters have monies allocated that could have gone to the public schools since the politicians know that they can always count on demands to increase funding for the public schools. This is one taxpayer and voter who is tired of being manipulated by the politicians on the issue of funding for the public schools. The bulk of our county property taxes in Durham goes to the public schools already. How much of the public schools budget is spent on administrators at the state level? How much of the public schools budget is spent for administrators at the local level? What are the actual impacts to date of how tax dollars have been spent in an attempt to improve the public schools? How much of the public schools budget is spent for teaching the large numbers of children in the country illegally whose parents cannot understand or speak English? We have competing needs for scarce tax dollars---what other "good" will have to be cut in order to allocate more monies to the public schools?
August 9, 2013 at 1:38 pm
dj anderson says:
Etheridge may be thinking he could become a leader in the party again. I don't agree.
North Carolina is still spending a lot on Education, as must as ever, but something like $400 a year less per pupil due to growth & inflation. Why exaggerate? Hard to compare NC to other states on spending, for counties do pay more of a share in most places than NC. Looking at outcomes is probably a better measure.
Teachers didn't get pay raises under Bev & Democratic legislature, so don't make too much of that, either. Teachers bet on ONE party winning, putting all their eggs in one basket. IF the NCAE changed leadership and stopped the commitment to ONE party and changed to ONE issue -- teacher pay -- they could select a number of Republicans to support and get a pay raise next year. Republicans have set aside enough money to do that. Gov Hunt got teacher pay above the national average and it has gone down since, including under Easley and Perdue. The NCAE is currently thinking protests are going to get the teachers more pay -- Wrong! 100,000 voting teachers can influence republicans to get raises. Does the NCAE exist for the Democratic Party? Nope! It's a new game for NCAE in a two party state. Go after Republican votes!
August 10, 2013 at 4:21 pm
Michael Tuck says:
The pushback against educational funding from the right is quite well orchestrated, and reflected in these comments. Attack the NCAE, which in reality is one of the least powerful teachers' organizations in the nation. Attacking teachers as being incompetent and overpaid. Claim, falsely, that the NCGA has not cut educational funding. Complaining that too much tax money goes to public schools (you want MORE cuts?). The attacks on immigrants (veiled racism) just adds fuel to the fire. NC has not spent money properly on public schools in over a decade, and some of the money spent on the public schools has been misallocated or wasted by local districts. The right's answer is to gut the public schools and give the money to charter and religious schools, which are often for-profit institutions providing nice profits for their stockholders and subpar education for their students. This has really been the driving force behind the attack on public education: find a way to divert millions of public funds spent on public schools into the hands of for-profit corporations and stockholders. Mocking and vilifying teachers, students, and the people who support them does not hide the realities of what McCrory and the NCGA are doing to North Carolina's once-proud educational system.
