Mike Easley on Education Democratic NC Governor

Get K-12 up to levels of rest of education system

The fourth is K-12. It makes absolutely no sense that we can be a national leader in the other three categories yet lag behind in K-12. We can’t be satisfied to be a leader in most categories of education. We must be a leader in all categories of education.

We can be number one across the board. We’re making real progress. And we cannot stop now. We can’t let a budget shortfall become an education shortfall. This year, we have to break that cycle, finish the job, overcome any barrier and let those young minds flourish. We can’t make excuses.

More Pre-K; smaller classes; more teacher pay

I’m proposing an initiative designed to give children the boost they need during their early learning years.
• First, the creation of a voluntary statewide pre-kindergarten [Pre-K] program to prepare at-risk four-year olds for school.
• We must reduce class size to 18 or below in grades K-3.
• We must invest in the Teaching Fellows program. We pay teachers to go to school and they pay us back by teaching school. It helps us get and keep high-quality educators.

Use a lottery to fund elementary schools

I want to keep North Carolina’s money in North Carolina’s schools for North Carolina’s children. Those resources could, and should, stay home. I am not saying a lottery for education is the only solution, it’s just one solution. If anyone has another way to find the $400 - $500 million for education, I am open to it. But you can’t just say “no” we’re against a lottery-finish the sentence-tell me what you’re for, because next year 100,000 five-year olds will show up at the schoolhouse door.

Improve and invest in public schools.

Principles of the Democratic Governors Association:

IMPROVING PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND INVESTING IN OUR YOUNGEST CHILDREN

Democratic Governors are leading the way with highly-trained teachers, strong standards and accountability, increased funding to repair and modernize public school facilities, access to technology and computers, and more discipline and safety in the classrooms. Democratic Governors believe the most important aspect to insure a child’s education is to have the best possible teachers in the classroom. They believe that we must value teachers as professionals, encourage their development to be the best teachers they can be for our children and compensate them accordingly. Democratic Governors favor greater parental choice, but oppose measures that weaken public schools diverting taxpayer dollars to private schools with no accountability for results. Democratic Governors around the country are also forming innovative public-private partnerships to create programs to provide early childhood education, nutrition and health care services to ensure that our children have the best possible start in life.