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Perspective | Fair and equitable funding for all of North Carolina’s schools

Nearly a quarter century after a state Supreme Court ruling known as Leandro reaffirmed North Carolina’s constitutional duty to ensure all children — including those who are at-risk or from rural and underserved communities — have the opportunity to receive a sound basic education, our state continues to struggle to meet this constitutional obligation.

On this week’s episode, we’ll explore the school funding challenges at both the state and local levels that make it difficult to uniformly provide a high quality education for every child, and we’ll also explore how we might overcome these challenges, as the Governor’s Commission On Sound Basic Education and its court appointed expert third party research partner, WestEd, are expected to soon present our state policy leaders with a report detailing what needs to be done to address the educational needs of our children. We are fortunate to be joined today by two attorneys who work on school funding and equity issues at the state level, as well as the Granville County Board of Education Chairman and a Granville County Commissioner.

Guests: 

  • Matt Ellinwood, Director, Education & Law Project, NC Justice Center
  • Mark Dorosin, Managing Attorney, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights 
  • Dr. Tom Houlihan, Chairman, Granville County Board of Education
  • Dr. Tony Cozart, County Commissioner, Granville County

Resources

Ed Lines:
State school superintendent wants lieutenant governor job
 
Gov. Roy Cooper vetoes teacher raises, calling them ‘paltry’ — and wants to negotiate
 
Time for action: State Board of Education aims for more after they ‘barely moved the needle’
 
Interview segments:
Local School Finance Study
 
Commission on Access to Sound Basic Education
 
Financing Education in North Carolina: A Budget AND Tax Guide
Public School Forum of North Carolina

Since 1986, the Public School Forum of North Carolina has been an indispensable and nonpartisan champion of better schools and the most trusted source in the state for research and analysis on vital education issues. We bring together leaders from business, education, and government to study education issues, develop ideas, seek consensus, and ultimately inform and shape education policy. We do that through research, policy work, innovative programs, advocacy, and continuing education for educators and policymakers.