2020 will bring many education challenges to North Carolina and Wake County
Our reporters are writing about what they expect to be some of the big topics on their beats in 2020.
The new year is likely to bring many education challenges for North Carolina and for Wake County — the largest school district in the state.
Issues will take place against the backdrop of the 2020 fall elections. In addition to casting ballots for president and Congress, voters will choose a North Carolina governor, General Assembly members and local school board and county commission seats.
Here are some of the key questions to consider in 2020:
Response to school funding report
How will state leaders respond to a consultant recommending that North Carolina provide an additional $8 billion over the next eight years to help provide students with a sound basic education?
The report from WestEd, a nonprofit research group, says North Carolina is further away from meeting its constitutional obligation to provide every child with the opportunity for a sound basic education than it was in 1997. That’s the year when the state Supreme Court issued its decision in the Leandro school funding case.
Republican lawmakers point to how much they’ve increased spending since 2011 and say that they’re already on track to exceed the funding recommendations from WestEd. Democrats point to how the report says the state is spending less per student than it did in 2009, when adjusted for inflation.
The status of NC teacher raises
Will North Carolina schoolteachers go two years in a row without state raises?
The Republican-led General Assembly and Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper have deadlocked on this year’s budget. Cooper vetoed legislation giving teachers an average 3.9% raise over the next two years because he said it’s “paltry” and should be higher.
If no deal is reached, it’s unclear what will be approved when state leaders work on the budget covering next school year. It would not be a surprise to see the N.C. Association of Educators call for another protest in May, where thousands of teachers march on state lawmakers and school districts around the state close for the day as a result.
The Read to Achieve contract
How will an ongoing legal dispute affect the ability of elementary schools to test whether their students are meeting Read To Achieve reading requirements?
The three-year, $8.3 million state contract to Istation is on hold amid questions about whether the state Department of Public Instruction properly awarded the deal. DPI has asked a Superior Court judge to take the case away from the state Department of Information Technology and to lift the stay on the contract.
The state’s traditional-calendar elementary schools are supposed to test students in January under Read To Achieve.
Who will lead NC’s public schools?
State Superintendent Mark Johnson’s decision to run for lieutenant governor has left the seat open.
Five Democrats and two Republicans have filed to run in the March primary for the right to be their party’s nominee in November.
Wake’s continued MVP Math dispute
Will the controversy over the use of the MVP Math curriculum shake up who is elected to the Wake County school board?
All nine Wake school board seats will be on the fall ballot. Critics of the MVP program used to teach high school level math courses say they will hold school leaders accountable at the ballot box for their decision to continue using the curriculum.
Wake County’s school funding
After six consecutive years of property tax increases, how much of an increase in local funding can the Wake County school system get in 2020?
The all-Democratic Wake County Board of Commissioners campaigned on providing more school funding than their Republican predecessors. In the past two years alone, local school funding has increased by $90 million.
But critics complain the rising taxes are taking a toll on some residents, especially seniors and others living on a fixed income.
School diversity goal
Can the Wake County school board win community buy-in for a new school diversity goal?
School leaders say they’re worried about the growing socio-economic imbalance in school enrollments that are creating have and have-not schools. They’re looking at what strategies — and they say not just student assignment — can be used to address the situation.
Wake’s timetable calls for meeting with community groups to get their support for any new strategies that would be used beginning in the 2020-21 school year.
T. Keung Hui covers K-12 education. For smart, reliable and timely coverage of the issues you care about, subscribe to The News & Observer at newsobserver.com/subscribe or subscribe to The Herald-Sun at heraldsun.com/subscribe.
This story was originally published December 26, 2019 at 8:00 AM with the headline "2020 will bring many education challenges to North Carolina and Wake County."
