Editorial: Playing politics overrides paying for quality public schools
Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2019 -- Playing games with funding public education and teachers' salaries. That is the undeniable truth. Sen. Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore obviously believe that they can pay teachers more than they budgeted. The question is why didn't they do that in their original budget? None of this is based on what is needed to assure a quality education. All of it is about politics -- how much legislators must spend in their effort to avoid negotiating with Gov. Roy Cooper.
Posted — UpdatedThere is a clear message coming out of General Assembly on its priorities for education.
What is most important to Senate leader Phil Berger, House Speaker Tim Moore and the majority in the legislature? Politics and partisan loyalty.
It is not public education.
That is the big reveal. Playing games with teachers' salaries.
That is the undeniable truth. Berger and Moore obviously believe that they can pay teachers more than they budgeted. The question is why didn’t they do that in their original budget?
None of this is based on what is needed to assure a quality education for North Carolina’s children. All of it is about politics. It is about how much legislators must spend in their effort to avoid negotiating with Gov. Roy Cooper.
Here’s the truth and it is why the Moore-Berger gimmick gets no traction.
Teachers and parents can add and subtract.
It is simply about one thing – giving the majority in the General Assembly a meaningless victory over the governor.
And teachers know it. They don’t buy Berger's statement that it is Cooper who wants to “use teachers as political pawns."
The governor needs to veto this bill and common-sense legislators need to sustain that veto to force passage of legislation that will truly fund the needs of North Carolina’s public schools to fulfill the guarantee of access to a quality education for every child.
Copyright 2024 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.