National Report Released Today Says North Carolina is Starving its Public Schools

RALEIGH, N.C., Oct. 13, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A national group, Campaign for America's Future (CAF), released a report today entitled Starving America's Public Schools: How Budget Cuts and Policy Mandates are Hurting Our Nation's Students, which cites North Carolina as a state in crisis. NCAE President Sheri Strickland offers the following remarks on the report's findings which calls North Carolina's cuts to public education "broad and deep."

"It's because of the $800 million budget cut our state school system suffered this year that North Carolina has come into the national spotlight as an example of how to starve public schools," explains NCAE President Sheri Strickland. "We are eroding decades of work aimed to give North Carolina students a world-class education and the report points at how we are cutting funding at a time of increasing demand on our public schools.  

"NCAE has said repeatedly and fervently that state budget cuts to public education are the wrong road for a bright future for our students and for our state. Today's report puts those real fears into perspective and confirms our predictions: North Carolina's steady climb out of the nation's educational cellar has come to an abrupt halt.

"The CAF report delves into how austerity measures and policy mandates damage American public education.  North Carolina is, sadly, a leader in those measures which will put students – particularly our youngest and most vulnerable children - irreparably behind. The report gives graphic details of how our children are paying the price in the 2011 budget approved by the North Carolina General Assembly and which overrode the Governor's veto. It notes huge cuts in early childhood education, cuts that negatively impact class size, cuts that slash and disrupt a well-rounded curriculum, and devastating cuts to special programs like dropout prevention.

"And, as North Carolina grapples with huge budget cuts to public education, the NC Legislature approved sending public tax dollars to private schools for families of special needs students. The report makes it clear that North Carolina lawmakers are making poor decisions that essentially place no priority on education and threaten the economic growth and development of our state."

According to the report release, Campaign for America's Future (CAF), is a center for ideas and action that works to build an enduring majority for progressive change. The campaign advances a progressive economic agenda and a vision of the future that works for the many, not simply the few. The Campaign is leading the fight for America's priorities – for good jobs and a sustainable economy, and for strengthening the safety net. North Carolina was noted among five states, including Arizona, Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania.  Visit www.ourfuture.org.

NCAE is the state's largest education association representing nearly 60,000 active, retired and students members across North Carolina.

SOURCE NCAE