Masks, school vouchers are contentious issues at Cooper-Forest faceoff
North Carolina Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and his Republican challenger, Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, got as close to a debate as voters have seen so far this year, though it was only virtual.
Each candidate was given a chance to talk about education priorities during an online forum Monday afternoon, but they took some jabs at each other, too.
It was a taste of what voters can expect from what is now only one gubernatorial debate announced for this fall, a televised debate scheduled for Oct. 14 and hosted by the North Carolina Association of Broadcasters.
Cooper criticized Forest for holding indoor, maskless campaign events with no social distancing, and for wanting to reopen all schools immediately without a mask mandate.
Forest called Cooper’s words a “character assassination.”
The North Carolina Association of School Administrators School Law & Policy candidate forum led off with Cooper and Forest, followed by Superintendent of Public Instruction candidates Republican Catherine Truitt and Democrat Jen Mangrum.
Cooper spoke first, and highlighted his education priorities including higher teacher pay, restoring master’s degree pay for teachers and expanding the Teaching Fellows program to include historically Black colleges and universities. Cooper also brought up one of the policies he is known for pushing — Medicaid expansion — which, along with the amount of teacher raises, was at the center of the 2019 state budget fight.
Cooper hit Forest on public schools funding. Forest went after Cooper on teacher raises.
“I think Lt. Gov. Forest really has one goal for our public schools: starve them for funding and then use those tax dollars to help rich people send their kids to private schools using vouchers,” Cooper said. He was referring to Forest’s support for the Republican-led legislature’s opportunity scholarships program, which provides families with vouchers for private school.
“School vouchers are wrong. They hurt our public schools. I think he’s satisfied with teacher pay and per pupil funding and he’ll rubber stamp anything that the legislative leadership tells him to do or say,” Cooper said.
Forest said things Cooper takes credit for were Republican-led policies.
Forest does not serve in the legislature, but as lieutenant governor is president of the Senate. The lieutenant governor only votes to break a tie in the Senate, but serves on statewide boards including the Board of Education.
Raises, masks and respecting authority
Forest touted his support of school choice and teacher raises, criticizing Cooper for vetoing budgets that included teacher raises.
“Sometimes a one-size-fits-all approach to education doesn’t work for everybody,” Forest said about school choice, which means parents can choose traditional public schools, charter schools or private schools using public vouchers.
“I think that the competition in that raises the bar for everybody and everybody gets to learn from one another,” Forest said. He also praised the innovation that can take place in charter schools.
Cooper vetoed the latest teacher raise legislation after a one-day General Assembly session in January. Cooper called the 3.9% raises in the bill “paltry,” The News & Observer previously reported. The legislature didn’t send him another raise bill, but Cooper did sign a bill this summer that gave teachers one-time bonuses.
“The governor was very clear in saying no, zero [raise] is good, because I want more,” Forest said.
Cooper talked about recruiting teachers; Forest talked about recruiting principals.
Forest’s list of education priorities included safety and security in the classroom, he said.
“I believe we should have armed resource officers in all of our schools,” he said. “We need to make sure we protect from the outside but also the inside.”
Forest also wants statewide character education around topics including morality, character, integrity, trust, respect and respect for authority.
“I believe [respect for authority]’s really important because we’ve seen that decay over the years and that’s where you get threats to teachers and threats to staff and threats student to student,” he said.
Neither talked a lot about the coronavirus pandemic in terms of policy, but rather reopening and masks.
Cooper announced last week that elementary schools could open under Plan A, which is full-time, daily instruction, if local school systems allow it. It would also include a mask mandate. A day earlier at a news conference with other Republican leaders, Forest called for immediate reopening of all schools. Forest also said that when he is governor, he would lift the statewide mask mandate, The News & Observer previously reported.
At the news conference, Forest was asked if he would set any statewide guidelines around COVID-19 in reopening schools. Forest said no. He also told reporters he does not think students and staff should be required to wear masks, the N&O previously reported.
“I don’t think so, no. I don’t think there’s any science that backs that up,” Forest said, but that it is up to the student and school.
During the forum Monday, Forest said he “never said allow every kid to get back in the classroom without masks and without any restrictions.” He said Monday that school administrators could make those decisions about how best to reopen schools.
“I said I would lift the mask mandate, and I would,” Forest said Monday, noting other states that do not have statewide mandates.
Forest also said Monday that there have not been cases of coronavirus related to any campaign event he has held.
For more North Carolina government and politics news, listen to the Domecast politics podcast from The News & Observer and the NC Insider. You can find it on Megaphone, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts.
This story was originally published September 21, 2020 at 5:48 PM with the headline "Masks, school vouchers are contentious issues at Cooper-Forest faceoff."
.jpg)