Legislative Update: April 24, 2019 - from President Pro Tempore Phil Berger | Eastern North Carolina Now

Press Release:

    As many of you have probably heard by now, the North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE) is planning another strike on May 1st

    Despite historic investments in teachers, students, and schools by the Republican-led legislature, the NCAE is still calling for a strike, depriving hundreds of thousands of students of a day of instructional time and requiring parents to find childcare or miss work.

    While the NCAE claims to be a nonpartisan organization, the reality is they are a far-left organization that continues to ignore the facts and attack Republicans. The NCAE has made clear its mission is to elect more Democrats -- the organization even put that mission in writing.

    While the NCAE continues to gloss over North Carolina Republicans' historic investments in education over the last eight years, folks outside of our state are starting to take notice.

    In a recent op-ed for the York Dispatch, the superintendents of 12 urban school districts in Pennsylvania -- including the heads of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh schools -- pointed to North Carolina as a model for education funding.

    The superintendents wrote, "How can Pennsylvania hope to compete with states like New York or New Jersey, North Carolina or Washington...when they invest in their future workforce at higher rates than our Commonwealth?"

    According to the National Education Association, only 10 states in the country dedicate more money to education from state coffers than North Carolina, and as a percentage of the total state budget, North Carolina spends more on education than most states, including New York, Massachusetts, Ohio, and Florida.

    It's a sad state of things when school administrators in Pennsylvania recognize the level of funding that we contribute to public education in North Carolina more than the state teacher's union does. The fact is, no matter what else they may say, the only goal of the NCAE is to elect more Democrats.

    Contact: Senator Phil Berger

       http://www.philberger.org/