RALEIGH (February 7, 2024) – Blue Cross CEO Emeritus Brad Wilson has had a remarkable career in law, government, health care, academia and the nonprofit sector. Wilson’s dad was a state trooper – and he occasionally was transferred as Brad made his way through school. So he experienced several North Carolina school systems – and… READ MORE
BRAD WILSON: ‘Avenues of opportunity … for everyone’
RALEIGH (January 17, 2024) – To former Blue Cross Blue Shield CEO Brad Wilson, public education is simply fundamental – as a moral responsibility to our fellow citizens, to workforce development, and to our economy. Wilson has worn many hats in public education in North Carolina. He served as general counsel to Gov. Jim Hunt…. READ MORE
Wilson on vouchers: ‘We need to be very careful’
RALEIGH (January 17, 2024) – State legislators like to shovel public dollars to private schools at the same time they short public schools. In the long-running Leandro case on state support for public schools, a judge ruled last April that the 2021-23 state budget fell $677.8 million short of the plan for PreK-12 education spending… READ MORE
A generous boost to become teachers
RALEIGH (January 10, 2024) – After North Carolina started this school year with 3,500 teacher vacancies – only because schools hired 1,400 more unlicensed teachers than the year before1 – the state struggles to refill its teacher pipeline. But a state commission just gave 130 students a generous boost to become teachers. The NC Teaching… READ MORE
Hopes for 2024
RALEIGH (January 4, 2024) – The 2024 elections will be important to America – and to the future of American democracy. But they also will be vitally important to the future of North Carolina and its children. From governor to state legislators to local school boards, the state’s voters will make critical choices up and… READ MORE
2023: The chaos continues
RALEIGH (December 28, 2023) – It might seem strange to complain about underfunding of public education in a year when North Carolina had a $4.8 billion budget surplus.1 But it’s true. In a year when: North Carolina ranked 50th of 50 states in the percentage of GDP it devotes to K-12 public education, The state… READ MORE
Don Martin: Fund vouchers, but fund public education first
By Don Martin WINSTON-SALEM (December 7, 2023) – In 2011, I served as Superintendent of the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools. At that time, the school district focused on developing every school and the central office into a learning organization. The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School district’s aspiration was for all students to meet their expected growth (as determined… READ MORE
Teachers in peril
CHAPEL HILL (August 31, 2023) – If the killing of a professor by one of his students Monday at UNC-Chapel Hill tells us nothing else, it tells us how treacherous teaching has become in this country. We still don’t know the shooter’s motives. We still don’t fully know whether the shooter intended to kill more… READ MORE
Why do we let our General Assembly dismantle public education?
By John Tate III CHARLOTTE (August 23, 2023) – Why do we let our General Assembly dismantle K-12 public education as we have known it, to the detriment of our community’s kids and our economy? It is our fault, you know. We are empowered as a people to change those who govern. We either just… READ MORE
Teachers: You can grow your own
DENVER, NC – North Carolina has a severe teacher shortage – the state started the school year more than 5,000 teachers short.1 But some places have learned you can grow your own. In a webinar hosted by Higher Ed Works on May 16, Rachel Frye, the Southwest NC Teacher of the Year at East Lincoln… READ MORE