Trump’s cuts are already ravaging our public schools in the Triangle and NC | Opinion

Public education in North Carolina is at a crossroads. This year, the NC General Assembly will have a decision to make — invest in the future of our students or stand by while proposed cuts and reorganization by the White House in the federal Department of Education pull away the opportunities so many Triangle families count on.

As a former educator and now a board member on the Durham Public Schools Foundation, I’ve placed public education at the heart of my vision for our region and our state. A sound public education is the first step to offering every North Carolina student a pathway to success. It’s a promise we should honor.

Contrary to commentary from the new Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, our public schools aren’t failing our children or indoctrinating them. We’re failing our public schools. Razing the Department of Education will leave millions of school children in a much worse place than they are today. Significant cuts to the Department of Education will go far beyond “reforming” public schools, creating large gaps in the fabric of our communities and education system.

The Department of Education administers grants and financial aid for our families, including through loans and Pell Grants for low-income students. The department also oversees civil rights programs and holds America’s schools responsible for upholding their promise to all students, not just a select few. As a parent of two boys with autism and co-chair of the General Assembly’s IDD Caucus, I personally know the impacts of losing funding for programs that support special education teachers.

Recently, I heard some troubling news from Durham Public Schools. Funding for the Diverse and Resilient Educators Advised through Mentorship (DREAM) Program, a partnership with a local university’s school of education, has been affected by federal funding cuts. Losing this $4.8 million dollar grant and the partnership will impact the potential recruitment of diverse educators in our public schools.

Educator diversity programs aren’t the only funds at risk. Over the past week, teacher training and retention grants were also canceled. We desperately need to be growing, not cutting, these programs.

But it’s important to acknowledge that the public education emergency in North Carolina isn’t only a result of federal policies — it’s a result of negligence in our own state government as well.

North Carolina students have a state Constitutional right to a “sound basic education.” The North Carolina Supreme Court confirmed this right in its 1997 decision in the Leandro case. In the two decades since that decision, our lawmakers have struggled to properly fund public education.

The General Assembly’s 2023 budget didn’t solve North Carolina’s public education crises. Educator pay raises in the budget are smaller than inflation and stretched out over two years. There are also no retention bonuses or pay supplements for Masters degrees, making it harder to keep our long-serving and highly-qualified teachers in our public schools. To make matters worse, statewide politicians are getting double the pay raises that educators and school employees are receiving. That just isn’t right.

In all subject areas, from math to social studies, teachers have left their jobs, fed up with the lack of pay and support from the state, leaving our schools with a teacher shortage. In fact, North Carolina’s teacher pay has fallen to $13,000 below the national average for the last several years: The starting salary for teachers barely reaches $40,000.

To ensure that our children are prepared to succeed, North Carolina needs to be a top-10 state in teacher pay. The legislature has failed North Carolina students by relentlessly pushing school choice programs and the privatization of education. This movement takes funding away from public schools that could improve educational opportunities for all students. However, the legislature has recently taken some steps in the right direction by expanding the Teaching Fellows program and providing teacher and principal pay incentives — we need to continue in this direction.

With uncertainty about the future of federal funding and support for educational priorities, it’s time for North Carolina to look after our own students and fully fund our schools.

During the previous session of the General Assembly, I introduced legislation to improve teacher diversity in our schools and improve outcomes for our students.This year, I’ll be introduce legislation to support educator diversity programs, increase teacher pay, and provide additional pathways and incentives for teacher certification at each level of education.

By implementing these common-sense policies, we will reach more talented North Carolinians where they are, make teaching a more attractive profession, and lower the neurotic obstacles to getting smart and compassionate educators into classrooms.

I’m not giving up on this fight. This year, I’m going to make sure that here in North Carolina, we stand up for our children and defend the promise of opportunity that schools have created for generations.

This story was originally published March 3, 2025 at 11:18 AM with the headline "Trump’s cuts are already ravaging our public schools in the Triangle and NC | Opinion."