EDITOR’S NOTE: The following are excerpts from new Gov. Josh Stein’s inaugural address Saturday where he addressed several education issues.1
RALEIGH (January 11, 2025) – North Carolina Strong means opening the doors of opportunity to every child.
There is no better investment in our future than providing excellent pre-K so that every child starts kindergarten, healthy and ready to learn.
We have to be smart about how we teach reading and how to utilize our most effective educators.
But as long as North Carolina ranks forty-eighth in the country in per pupil investment, our public school students will be denied the sound basic education that our state constitution guarantees them.
To recruit and retain the best, we must provide our public school teachers and staff real pay raises.
Our community colleges and universities are among the best in the nation. We must keep them that way and continue to innovate, to meet students’ needs in a rapidly changing world.
But we also must recognize that while college is right for many people, it’s not right for every person and someone should not have to go to college to provide for his or her family, so we must expand career and technical education and apprenticeship programs.
North Carolina Strong means keeping people safe. No one should worry when their kids are at school or at play or whether their loved ones are safe when they are at work or at worship….
NORTH CAROLINA STRONG also means working together across our differences to get things done.
And so to the members of the General Assembly, I say, let’s work together. We have real problems to solve, and we do not have time to settle petty political scores or fight divisive culture wars.
I want to stand with you as we fight for our people, not with each other.
No party has all the answers – good ideas do not come with party labels. When we work together, we are stronger and there is no limit to what we can accomplish for the good of the people of this state.
You can view Gov. Stein’s entire address here.
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