NCSBA Legislative Update – December 19, 2019

NCSBA Legislative Update – December 19, 2019

Early bird rate: $250   –   After January 3: $325

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State Superintendent Candidates Forum

Craig Horn, NC Legislator

Catherine Truitt, Western Governors University NC Chancellor

 

Leandro Report – What It Means for Districts & Next Steps

Rick Glazier, NC Justice Center Executive Director

 

Changes to the Innovative School District

JB Buxton, State Board of Education Member

James Ellerbe, ISD Superintendent

 

Education Culture Transformation – A Model to Boost Student Success by Improving Teacher Recruitment, Retention, & Leadership

Julie Pittman, 2018 Western NC Teacher of the Year, EDLead NC

Freebird McKinney, 2018 NC Teacher of the Year, EDLead NC

 

Class Action Lawsuit: NC School Districts vs. Vaping Companies (Juul)

Gary Jackson & Hoyt Tessener, James Scott Farrin

 

Localizing myFutureNC – Rowan County Leaders Discuss Their Process to Maximize Educational Attainment & Economic Prosperity

Rowan Education Collaborative & myFutureNC

 

Competency-Based Learning: The What & Why – A NC Principal Shares Successes & Challenges

            Carroll Middle School Principal, Assistant Principal, & Students


2020 Election Landscape with Newly Drawn Districts

Anna Beavon Gravely, NC Free

 

All We have to Do is Explain It to Them, Right? – A Proven Method to Effective Advocacy

Joe Stewart, IIANC VP of Governmental Affairs

 

CLICK HERE FOR A DRAFT AGENDA

 

Leandro Report Released

A long-awaited report in the 25-year-old Leandro case was released last week by Judge David Lee. In 2018 Judge Lee appointed WestEd, an independent consultant, to develop recommendations for the state to best achieve its constitutional requirement of providing every student with the opportunity to a sound basic education.

The 301-page WestEd report contains an initial action plan, background on North Carolina’s public education system, findings, recommendations, and a collection of appendices that provide brief summaries of additional studies done by WestEd and other organizations. The findings and recommendations are centered around eight critical needs:

  1. Adequate, equitable, and aligned finance and resource allocation
  2. A qualified and well-prepared teacher in every classroom
  3. A qualified and well-prepared principal in every school
  4. High-quality early childhood education
  5. Support for high-poverty schools
  6. State assessment system and school accountability system
  7. Regional/statewide supports for school improvement
  8. Monitoring the state’s compliance

WestEd believes that its recommendations and action steps will better equip North Carolina in providing economically disadvantaged students with a greater chance of becoming academically successful and career and college ready.

Click here to access the WestEd report.

The report has drawn responses from numerous state government officials. Click here to access an article containing public statements about the report and supporting reports provided by WestEd.

For more on what this report means for your district and the next steps in the Leandro case, consider attending NCSBA’s 2020 Public Policy Conference on January 23-24. The conference includes a session on the WestEd report presented by Rick Glazier, Executive Director of the NC Justice Center. Click here to register.

 

School Technology Resolution

NCSBA has been hard at work trying to formulate a responsible payment option for the unpaid $730 million that the state still owes to public schools per a 2008 court judgment. The judge ruled that those funds should have been used exclusively for school technology but were instead unconstitutionally diverted by several state agencies to other purposes. For more background on this case, click here.

We would like to thank the 69 school districts (click here to see list) that have already shared and advocated their adopted resolutions. We encourage each district to consider how these funds could benefit their students. If your district adopted the resolution but you do not see it listed, please email a copy of your resolution to Rebekah Howard at rhoward@ncsba.org.

 

Candidate Filing

Candidate filing opened on Monday, December 2 and closes on Friday, December 20.

Click here to view a list of all NC House and Senate candidates.

Click here to view a list of all candidates who will appear on 2020 ballots in NC.

 

 

 

Leanne E. Winner
Director of Governmental Relations
N.C. School Boards Association
(919) 747-6686

Bruce Mildwurf
Associate Director of Governmental Relations
N.C. School Boards Association
(919) 747-6692

Richard Bostic
Assistant Director of Governmental Relations
N.C. School Boards Association
(919) 747-6677

Rebekah Howard
Governmental Relations Research Specialist
N.C. School Boards Association
(919) 747-6688

North Carolina School Boards AssociationNCSBA Legislative Update – December 19, 2019