By Amy Cockerham Public Ed Works RALEIGH (September 17, 2025) – Thousands of teachers leave North Carolina classrooms every year – and legislators ignoring the needs of educators could be to blame. Low pay and lack of respect, among other problems, are cited as reasons why school districts have trouble filling teaching positions. The latest… READ MORE
Lessons Learned: Spending per student among lowest in nation
By Amy Cockerham Public Ed Works RALEIGH (September 4, 2025) – Lack of funding is the root of many issues facing North Carolina public schools today, as legislators have failed to allocate enough funds to keep up with surrounding states, setting our state behind. GDP, or Gross Domestic Product, is the value of goods and… READ MORE
Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation: A note from Joy
Friends, Imagine this. It’s the first day of school and North Carolina’s kids are pumped to return to class. Every child walks into a bright classroom led by an excellent teacher who knows their name and story. shelves are stocked with supplies. Buses run on time. The cafeteria is serving healthy food. Parents and caregivers feel… READ MORE
Lessons Learned: Voucher expansion and public schools
By Amy Cockerham Public Ed Works RALEIGH (August 28, 2025) – North Carolina has seen a vast expansion of vouchers – taxpayer dollars for students to attend private schools – called “Opportunity Scholarships.” The state is projected to spend $731 million on its voucher programs this year, according to the NC General Assembly’s Fiscal Research… READ MORE
Lessons Learned: NC teacher pay falls to bottom of rankings
By Amy Cockerham Public Ed Works RALEIGH (August 20, 2025) – It’s no secret that pay is a concern for North Carolina teachers – the latest report from the National Education Association ranks the state 43rd in the U.S. for average teacher salaries. It hasn’t always been this way. Based on a table from the… READ MORE
Lessons Learned: Why don’t we invest in our children?
By Amy Cockerham Public Ed Works RALEIGH (August 14, 2025) – As students head back to the classroom, we’re diving deeper into the struggles educators are dealing with in our state. Over the next several weeks, we will publish a series of articles to address how legislative actions – and inaction – in North Carolina… READ MORE
Eroding and politicizing higher ed in NC
By Ed Samulski Cary Boshamer Professor of Chemistry, Emeritus University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill CHAPEL HILL (August 6, 2025) – As a teenager in South Carolina applying to college in the late 1950s, I saw the qualitative difference between the economies of the Carolinas; everyone attributed North Carolina’s superiority in all areas to… READ MORE
House budget is better for our teachers and kids
By Paul Fulton and David Rice Public Ed Works RALEIGH (July 31, 2025) – North Carolina has a problem. And state legislators – particularly the state Senate led by Phil Berger – have refused to recognize it for far too long. The state ranks 43rd in average teacher pay and 39th in starting teacher pay.1 That’s… READ MORE
A work requirement for state legislators?
RALEIGH (July 9, 2025) – Congress spent weeks recently debating a work requirement for Medicaid recipients – poor people. Well maybe we need a work requirement for state legislators. After six months in session, the legislators North Carolina elects to adopt a state budget every two years went home two weeks ago without adopting one.1… READ MORE
Tom Campbell: Giving in instead of digging in
RALEIGH (July 2, 2025) – Once upon a time, not many years ago, North Carolina had a dream. A dream shared by parents and politicians, by citizens and educators. We boldly dreamed our state would achieve excellence in public education. Not content to be average, we wanted to be in the top tier of states…. READ MORE
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