Governor McCrory Welcomes Students And Educators Back To School | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Raleigh, N.C.     Governor Pat McCrory is welcoming students and educators back to school. In a video message, Governor McCrory remembers his former teacher Ruth Revels from Ragsdale High School in Jamestown, North Carolina, who inspired him to earn his education degree in college.

    The governor also highlights efforts to improve education, including raising average teacher pay to $50,000, tripling funding for textbooks and connecting all North Carolina classrooms to high speed Wi-Fi. To build on the progress, the governor also discusses investments for community colleges and efforts to make college more affordable.

    Watch the video here.

   

Transcript:

    Hi this is Governor Pat McCrory and you know it's been a long time since I was a student in Jamestown, North Carolina.

    But after all these years I am still thankful for all of my teachers, especially Ruth Revels.

    Even after I graduated from Ragsdale High School, Mrs. Revels continued to influence me, and this was occurring even after I became the 74th governor of the great state of North Carolina.

    Sadly we lost Mrs. Revels this year, but I will never forget the impact she had on my life.

    In fact it was Mrs. Revels that inspired me to get my teaching degree when I went to Catawba College in Salisbury.

    And while a lot has changed since I was a student-teacher, I have never forgotten the lessons I learned and have respected teachers ever since that great experience in Spencer, North Carolina.

    That's why as teachers and students go back to school, I'm proud of what we have accomplished to improve education in North Carolina.

    We have boosted average teacher pay to more than $50,000 for the first time in state history.

    You know when I entered office, teachers had not had a meaningful raise in five years and our teacher pay ranking had fallen from 19th to 47th in the nation.

    That was unacceptable, and I'm proud of the progress we have made to respect our teachers and pay our teachers even more.

    To help our students succeed, we have also tripled funding for textbooks since 2013 and we are connecting every North Carolina classroom to high-speed Wi-Fi by 2018.

    These investments have helped our state achieve the best high school graduation rate in history.

    But we know that it doesn't stop there.

    That's why we have invested in our community colleges and we are making college more affordable by freezing tuition and capping fees at our universities.

    This not only makes college more affordable but also provides stability for families and students planning how to pay for college.

    Together we have accomplished a lot for education in our state. But we know there is a lot more to do.

    So as you begin a new school year, I look forward to continuing to work with teachers, parents, administrators and students to build on our success.

    On behalf of our entire state, and in honor of my teacher Ruth Revels, I want to thank our teachers for helping to make North Carolina the best state in the nation.

    Best wishes to everyone on a new school year and may God bless you and the great state of North Carolina.

• Contact:Crystal Feldman
•     govpress@nc.gov