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Click the + above and share your thoughts!

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We as the local branch of the NCAE- the public school staff union in NC, are committed to holding local and state elected officials accountable for fully funding our public education system.

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I think it is important to celebrate diversity in our schools. No students should ever have to attend school where there are no educators that look like them.

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Family and community engagement- schools as cornerstones of communities.

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At NC Child is committed to support the social and emotional health for all NC students. Through the legislative agenda and Early Well coalition.

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We should celebrate the little things, all things, the joy, the smiles- the children who love school, the teachers and staff who go the extra mile and the parents who are blessed to be a part of this wonderful process.

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We have incredible teachers and staff. They deserve respect and support from parents and community.

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The allotment formula for state funding staff needs to be updated to meet the basic needs of schools across the state. Currently the formula does not cover the basic needs schools have, causing districts to fund a large chunk of positions which for more affluent districts is feasible but for lower income districts it does not cover all positions needed to close the achieve for all students.

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Challenge of ensuring appropriate resources to all schools and students and teachers in these days of scarce resources brought on in part by momentum of so-called school choice, which largely benefits those who have the most family resources already..

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Overcrowded and underfunded schools that prioritize rote memorization over critical thinking and problem solving. Schools are not day cares, but it would be easy to believe they are. Coupled with this is the dismissal of concerns about the history of marginalized communities and how the lasting impacts of these policies have affected these communities.

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Since the General Assembly majority plans to reduce corporate and state taxes to almost zero and now the  closure of DOE, Where do you propse to find funding for all students in public schools.

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Since the General Assembly majority plans to reduce corporate and state taxes to almost zero and now the  closure of DOE, Where do you propse to find funding for all students in public schools.

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Make our public schools diverse and appealing so that all parents WANT their children to be educated in them. Focus on developmentally appropriate creativity, problem-solving, and character-building rather than testing.

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Challenge: Recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce from Murphy to Manteo. Pathway: Making teaching a viable career path through (including, but not limited to): a living, competitive wage commensurate with experience, professionalism and trust, and effective/responsive systems of support for educators AND students in classrooms, schools, and at the district level (personnel, time, resources, etc.) 

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Challenge: Recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce from Murphy to Manteo. Pathway: Making teaching a viable career path through (including, but not limited to): a living, competitive wage commensurate with experience, professionalism and trust, and effective/responsive systems of support for educators AND students in classrooms, schools, and at the district level (personnel, time, resources, etc.) 

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Resourceful teachers

Those who have stayed and are dedicated to making a difference

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Staffing is a huge problem for many reasons. Not enough staff to support the high needs of students and staff in this current climate. Teachers, admin, support staff and all school based employees having two, three or more jobs because there is no one else, is going to cause burnout at a higher rate than we can hire to fill positions. AI is NOT the answer. We need more staff allocations than the state currently approves.

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Bilingual education

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That voucher money is stopped, Leandro funds are released, buildings are replaced or renovated with state of the art technologies and people regain the belief the funding education is an investment, not a burden.

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That voucher money is stopped, Leandro funds are released, buildings are replaced or renovated with state of the art technologies and people regain the belief the funding education is an investment, not a burden.

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Teachers who are JOYFUL in the classroom, lifting up children, being innovative, and sending heroes out into the world every day.

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Modify our School Report card system to include more emphasis on growth. Current system weighs heavily on proficiency, but little on growth. Schools that make high growth can still be rated as C/D/F school.

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We must continue and celebrate a commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. Children will accept themselves and each other if we accept them just as they are.

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In order to recruit and retain highly qualified and motivated individuals we must pay teachers like the professionals they are.

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Funding/establishing acceptable and effective discipline measures

Absenteeism

Cellphone control

Maintaining strong EC programs

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Gov. School & NC - Advanced Placement Partnership

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Gov. School & NC - Advanced Placement Partnership

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NC Gov. School!!!! East & West!!!

NC DPI partnership with Advanced Placement! So much support for our teachers & students! Great stuff!!!!

Michelle Lewis

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I want to celebrate the effort and intentional focus on student and staff wellness. We must continue to support all students and staff everyday.

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edTPA is a barrier to many teachers entering the profession, and hits residency teachers particularly hard. Potential solution is to remove this licensure requirement and trust accredited teacher licensure programs to prepare teachers.

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National Board certification is huge and NC is leading among other states right now. Please keep the 12% pay increase and continue to support the educators as they seek this prestigious milestone in their career.

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Our teachers need PD that is differentiated based on their specific growth needs…. Ie, a teacher with high reading growth consistently based on EVAAS(which we believe is a reliable growth measure) would probably not benefit from state level required Intensive (and costly) Reading PD.

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Public support and legislative support for public school teachers and students as demonstrated by substantial financial backing

Also , reduce, cap, and revise voucher money and qualifications

Return textbooks in science, literature, math, and history

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Expanding bilingual education would support excellence for Multilingual learners.

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I am a member of NCRSP. We are committed to showing support for our teachers with treats and notes, but also through speaking up for them to our legislators.

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Equitable Practices in Teacher Preparation Programs

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Equitable Practices in Teacher Preparation Programs

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Evaluation of teacher preparation programs relating to diverse teaching practices and learning practices. The solution should be to provide paid internships to students so they may be able to spend more time in diverse work environments or school settings.

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Retention of teachers will grow more difficult if the current pay scale stays in place with the freeze in pay from years 15-25. The scale needs to be restructured so that experienced teachers have incentive to stay. Are we REVERING our teachers if we are freezing their pay for a decade?

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Our current narrative for public instruction in NC is one of our biggest challenges. The narrative that exists is that public schools are failing our children, that we’re not teaching them and we’re not meeting their needs and the educators in this room can certainly refute that along with NAEP data. We are performing at or above the National levels.

With that narrative comes vacancies that are difficult to fill. We need North Carolina to be THE choice for educators so that they quit driving across state lines. In order to do that of course funding is priority but with that is rewriting our narrative. In addition to funding, let’s adjust our school accountability model to reflect the work that our schools are doing. Let’s reflect the true work that is actually happening in our State.

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We have an increasing number of English learners that come to us with significant gaps in language and content knowledge. Teachers are not prepared to works with these students and the potential loss of federal funding will make this much worse.

Solution—state support for Newcomer schools

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Expand bilingual schools of different language to provide NC students global competency.

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Checking sources before posting is something simple we all can do y’all!

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Honor the RATIOS that are established: teacher:student, counselor: student, etc.

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Fully embrace the excellence of our multilingual learners and support pathways to access higher education. 

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Fully embrace the excellence of our multilingual learners and support pathways to access higher education. 

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No more than 15 students in elementary schools, 20 in middle, and 25 in high. This will help with teacher retention and will grant greater educational opportunities for our students.

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Young people today are graduating from HS without basic interpersonal skills. There are a few reasons why, but the results are clear. Read any newspaper and you will find a myriad of articles on the loneliness epidemic, but never any solutions. Young people need mentorship and an education that guides them away from the influencers who preach misogynistic and toxic beliefs.

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Maintain values of appreciation and celebration of multiple cultures and the value of all our students. Work harder and smarter to de-marginalize our multilingual population, particularly parents so that schools are a place where they are welcomed. 

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Maintain values of appreciation and celebration of multiple cultures and the value of all our students. Work harder and smarter to de-marginalize our multilingual population, particularly parents so that schools are a place where they are welcomed. 

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I would like to see intentional transition programs for children and families coming from other countries. Wrap-around services to support the needs they have, English language education, housing assistance, legal advisement, trauma support, etc. This would be a partnership between schools, DHHS, and local organizations. These children should have more options than enrolling directly into large, English-speaking schools where they know no one.

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We need to listen to our students and teach them how to lead effectively and proactively with kindness.

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Require substitute teaching like jury duty. Require leaders to substitute. Then they might have a different perspective when making decisions that effect us every single day.

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Reduce barriers for community members to become volunteers within schools.

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Whatever is needed to help English learners in the state

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I am Toni Blount, Regional Impact Manager for MyFutureNC. I work and live in the Southeast region. As a regional manager, I partner with counties and regional groups to increase educational attainment to workforce alignment. MyFutureNC works locally to accelerate action, monitor and report progress, and advocate for policy solution. Please contact me at toni@myfuturenc.org to schedule a work session with your community voices.

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NC is experiencing an increasing number of staff who enter classrooms daily who are not certified through a traditional teacher preparation program. Many of our schools have a high number of staff who are completing an alternative pathway.  It is critical to provide in-real-time support from our highest achieving teachers. Therefore, a funded and sustainable advanced teaching roles model should be considered as a big idea for North Carolina.

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I mentioned at our meeting the desire for communication to be added to our curriculum. I meant to add the ability to recognize AI and propaganda. I’m very grateful for the opportunity to be in community and to be given the encouragement to discuss what’s working, our concerns, and present ideas.

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Celebrate Amazing School Health Personnel 🎉🎉🎉 School Counselors, School Social Workers, School Nurses and School Psychologists, our role is vital to meet the needs of all students and increase student outcomes.

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Increase reoccurring funding for all staff. Investing in Staff is imperative to increase student achievement outcomes. 

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Increase reoccurring funding for all staff. Investing in Staff is imperative to increase student achievement outcomes. 

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ROI-Return on Interest, as we invest in teachers we are investing in our students future. We are increasing funding for all students to have exposure to their post secondary plans. The state should pay for AVID. Have AVID in every school, and every school should be required to use the AVID strategies as a schoolwide expectation.

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We are committed to educating students and families about post secondary plans. We are committed to staying abreast of all of the federal, state and local policies to ensure that staff have the information they need to ensure that they can provide their students with appropriate information. 

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We are committed to educating students and families about post secondary plans. We are committed to staying abreast of all of the federal, state and local policies to ensure that staff have the information they need to ensure that they can provide their students with appropriate information. 

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I’m committed to learning more about the needs of our students, educators, and schools and listening to the wealth of knowledge and experience of those who have been in the fight long than I. I am also happy to work with other mental health professionals locally and/or statewide to create meaningful and developmentally appropriate skills based curriculum for each grade level.

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Hi Mr. Green,

Thank you so much for coming to Wilmington and creating the opportunity to share our thoughts!  I appreciate your time afterwards about sending you this information.

Like I mentioned, I've been working fairly extensively to bridge the disconnect between our County Commissioners and Planning & Use department and NHCS - including data errors and major data discrepancies between the departments affecting student projections.

This all began when I served on a team of residents opposing a high density rezoning in an area with strained infrastructure and schools operating 100s of students over capacity.

I'm thankful to share that several corrections and process improvements have been implemented since, and I'm hoping the others will be as well - including a solution after consulting with Rob Siwec, Senior Director of Geospatial Analytics for WCPSS.

While these solutions help, they do not provide a long term solution to the severe school overcrowding our area is facing - so severe that redistricting is not an option. I'm attaching projections from the recent NHCS Facility Utilization Study - lots of red.  Even more alarming is that incorrect new housing data was used (5 times less than what is on record with the Planning & Use department.)  There is work underway to get the study updated.  There are 0 concrete plans for additional capacity.

There is a clear intellectual disconnect within our local government between new housing approvals (especially high density rezonings) and its effect on our schools and the school system's reactive responsibility.   There also seems to be a lack of awareness of the benefits of strong schools for the entire community - a high quality workforce, attraction of businesses looking to relocate or expand, higher property values, etc.

At the heart of the complex issue within the local government - growth is simply outpacing infrastructure.  As we briefly noted, this is a problem facing other NC communities as well.

Throughout all of this work, concurrency law was discovered.  Quite the concept and FL is the model.  Here is a great school concurrency fact sheet from the Florida House of Representatives.

Here is an excerpt:

School concurrency is a system of land use regulations designed to meet the demands placed upon public school capacity by new residential development.  District school boards and local governments achieve school concurrency when there are adequate school facilities available to accommodate increases in student enrollment resulting from new residential development.  School concurrency involves both intergovernmental coordination and timing. District school boards and local governments must coordinate their respective educational facilities and comprehensive plans.  Before approving proposed residential development, local governments and school boards must jointly determine whether adequate school capacity will be available to accommodate the development.  A local government must deny an application for new residential development if adequate school capacity will not be available or under construction within three years of approving the application.

I would love to know your thoughts on this in general - feasibility, strength as a concept in our state government, etc.  The first step is to get a bill introduced.  Some work locally has begun.  If you have any thoughts there, I'm all ears.

And if there's anything in particular that we in NHC can do to advocate for you and achieve the upcoming strategic plan at any level, please let me know.

Happy to talk here or on the phone.  I appreciate your time and everything you do!

Thank you,

Christy

Christine Mason

Founder, R City Rocks

984-269-9863

c: 919-886-1769

www.rcityrocks.com

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Expand Instructional Support Services

State funding formulas do not provide sufficient positions for media specialists, guidance counselors, social workers, and mental health therapists.

Guarantee Access to a Well-Rounded Curriculum

State funding for enhancement teachers (Art, Music, PE) is based on school size, leaving small schools underserved.

Ensure Adequate School Leadership Support

State funding formulas do not fully cover assistant principal positions, especially in smaller schools.

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21.3% of 3rd-12th graders identified as AIG in NHCS.

State funding only supports 4% of students, creating a funding gap.

K-2 AIG Services: Provided to 100% of students (additional 5,300 students).

3,789 AIG students reported in the Fall of 2024

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Increase State and Federal Funding for EC Services – Current allotments do not cover the costs of intensive support, staffing, and specialized equipment.

Sustain Intensive Staffing Levels – 108 maximum service classrooms require sustained funding for teachers, paraeducators, and specialized staff.

Cover High-Cost Individualized Services – Funding must support essential services such as

The state’s 13% funding cap leaves many students with disabilities underfunded.

Federal IDEA funding covers only 13-18% of the required per-pupil expenditure, far below the original 40% target.

Nursing Support – $900,500 for 15 students requiring 1:1 nurses.

Educational Interpreters – $245,000 for 5 students.

Out-of-District Placements – Up to $300,000 for 3-4 students.

Ensure State & Federal are funding their part to ensure Compliance with IDEA and NC Policies

North Carolina must increase recurring funding for EC services to ensure compliance, maintain critical staffing, and provide necessary support for students with disabilities.

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Increase Recurring State Funding – Address rising costs of food, supplies, equipment, and wages to sustain child nutrition programs.

Fully Fund Universal Free Meals – Provide state funding to close the gap between federal reimbursement and actual meal costs, ensuring all students receive free meals.

Protect and Expand CEP – Oppose federal reductions to the CEP multiplier and advocate for an increase to support more schools.

Establish Permanent State Grants – Ensure state meal program funding is recurring to provide stability for families and schools.

Invest in School Meal Infrastructure – Allocate funding for kitchen equipment and facility upgrades to maintain safe and efficient meal service.

North Carolina must commit to recurring funding and policy protections to ensure all students have access to healthy, no-cost meals.