NC’s Education System Must Be More Equitable, Judge Rules

North Carolina schools ranked 32nd in the nation in a recent report (Source)

Early last week, State Superior Court Judge David Lee signed a court order declaring that the state is not doing enough to ensure that North Carolina students are receiving a sound and basic education. The order directed the state to “work expeditiously and without delay to take all necessary actions” to implement changes. Lee agreed with the findings of an independent consultant, California-based WestEd, who argued that the funding had not kept up with the changing needs of North Carolina’s schools. 

WestEd released a report in December that detailed the status of North Carolina’s public schools. North Carolina is ranked 32nd in the nation for its public school system and overall education level, which is below average. The report contends that dropping teacher quality and lagging student achievement are the results of insufficient state funding. The independent consultant additionally concluded that the state would have to sharply increase educational funding — to the tune of $8 billion over eight years — to restore its commitment to students. 

In response to the WestEd report, the North Carolina Republican Party has defended its record. Lauren Horsch, a spokeswoman for Senate Leader Phil Berger, released a statement saying that the state has made “incredible strides in education” since 2011. Horsch insisted that the report “falls flat” because the group failed to talk “directly to the people who create the laws and allocate the money.”

The N.C. GOP has also expressed concerns over the large price tag attached to WestEd’s proposed reforms. Pat Ryan, a spokesman for Berger, contended  in a statement that “money doesn’t buy outcomes, New York spends more per student than any state in the country — two-and-a-half times as much as North Carolina — and their scores are still lower than North Carolina’s.”

A few Republican lawmakers even argue that the court order could spark a constitutional crisis. State Representative Craig Horn said that “the Constitution of North Carolina is very clear as to who has the authority to appropriate money.” He continued that “I don’t know that it is constitutional for a court to direct the state to appropriate a specific amount of money.”

Democratic lawmakers, on the other hand, argue that state spending on education has to increase more than the proposed Republican budget has allocated. “Ensuring that every North Carolina student, regardless of their zip code or background, has an opportunity to receive a good public education is the most important promise we as legislators can give to North Carolina families,” House Democratic Leader Darren Jackson said in a statement.

The State has a long-standing history in struggling to provide adequate and equal education to many children, coming to a head most prominently with the N.C. Supreme Court case Leandro v. North Carolina. The case began in 1994, when families from five low-income counties sued the state. The families claimed that North Carolina was not providing their children with the same educational opportunities as students in higher-income districts. 

The state Supreme Court unanimously affirmed that the state constitution guarantees every child “an opportunity to receive a sound basic education.” Following Leandro, state education improved monumentally in the 1980s and 1990s. Advancements ranged from a new system of curriculum standards to increased funding for education. As a result of this progress, North Carolina was recognized as a leading state for educational innovation. The Great Recession, however, jettisoned many of these reforms and seems to have sent North Carolina back in the wrong direction. 

The WestEd report says that “the state is further away from meeting its constitutional obligation to provide every child with the opportunity for a sound basic education than it was when the Supreme Court of North Carolina issued the Leandro decision more than 20 years ago.” Specifically, WestEd notes that the amount of economically disadvantaged students and those who don’t speak English as a first language have increased since the Leandro decision. In response to these changes, the state education system has done little to provide adequate resources for these students and ensure they are “college and career ready.” 

In late 2017, Governor Roy Cooper appointed the Governor’s Commission on Access to Sound, Basic Education. The group was tasked with “helping N.C. live up to the Constitution.” The Superior Court order from Judge Lee, handed down just a few weeks ago, may influence the Commission’s work, but possible progress still lies in the hands of the Republican-majority state legislators.  

“An education that does not serve the purpose of preparing students to participate and compete in the society in which they live and work is devoid of substance and is constitutionally inadequate,” wrote then-Chief Justice Burley Mitchell for the State Supreme Court in 1997. This assertion will continue to guide the changing state education system, but it all remains ultimately dependent on the General Assembly’s funding decisions.