Though recently elected Gov. Pat McCrory won the North
Carolina gubernatorial election by a significant margin, citizens’ reactions to the
Republican governor’s predicted policy changes in education are less cohesive.
For educators, the election brought education to the
forefront of conversation in North Carolina, which ranked in the bottom 10 states for per pupil spending in the 2011-2012 school year.
Amid the October election chaos, Kris Nielsen, a former
teacher in Monroe, N.C., quit his job. Neilson, in a blog post said that
he quit because: “I refuse to watch my family struggle financially as I work in
a job to which I have invested 6 long years of my life in preparation."
A debate on Oct. 3 between past gubernatorial candidate
Walter Dalton and Gov. McCrory foreshadowed the transition from a Democratic to
Republican governor through his approach to education policy. McCrory, who
supported the 2011-2012 education budget cuts, said that there needs to be a
focus on achieving results, rather than increasing the budget.
“We’re… pouring money into a broken system,” McCrory said in
the debate.
Nielsen, who stated that he “will not spend another day
under the expectations" that he must "prepare every student for the increasing numbers
of meaningless tests,” became the voice of hordes of teachers unhappy with
the current system. The blog post went
viral, receiving over 130,000 views in a week, according to the blog’s author,
Diane Ravitch.
“It spoke to the frustrations that many are feeling,” said
Ravitch, via email. “What politicians
are calling reform is not improving education and is driving away teachers.”
Nielsen said that the letter has caused an outpouring of
support from his community.
“So many teachers and parents have reached out and told me
they appreciated me showing the world how our system really is,” Nielsen
said.
Nielsen said that,
despite a few comments of “it’s a job; get used to it,” teachers across the
state and nation say that they have the inspiration to fight for change.
“Whether it’s by resigning or speaking up, people are
feeling motivated to change this system,” Nielsen said.
Nielsen’s post displayed discontent with teachers’ salaries,
lack of benefits, and arbitrary standardized testing formats. The post is also addressed to June Atkinson,
newly re-elected state superintendent of public instruction.
Atkinson’s election platform included raising North Carolina
teachers’ base pay, in addition to awarding performance-based raises. According
to a lobbyist report of the N.C. House Education Oversight Committee meeting
in October, Atkinson stated that the number one priority for the next fiscal
year’s budget would be eliminating remaining discretionary cuts. Merit-based
pay plans would likely be incorporated into the final budget provisions.
Atkinson was unavailable to comment. However, with many educators displaying vocal
opposition to any leadership that does not meet the needs of themselves or their
students, the newly elected and re-elected officials must consider the requests
of their constituency.
