Opinion

Editorial: Quality public schools for every child. Will legislators be part of the solution or the problem?

Tuesday, June 15, 2021 -- What legislators should know. f they don't act, the governor will. Not only does the governor have the authority to direct funding to implement the Comprehensive Remedial Plan - but should for some reason Gov. Roy Cooper be reluctant, Superior Court Judge David Lee has the power to order Cooper to use his authority to get it done.

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CBC Editorial: Tuesday, June 15, 2021; Editorial #8676
The following is the opinion of Capitol Broadcasting Company.
The leaders of the North Carolina General Assembly are at a crossroads concerning the most significant issue that confronts the state – fulfilling the state Constitution’s pledge, the right, that every child must have access to a quality education.
If they don’t act, the governor will. It has happened before. In his latest order Judge David Lee is sending a clear and unequivocal message. It will happen again.
The legislature should, in the budget it sends to Gov. Roy Cooper, clearly commit to implementing the non-partisan, independent and professionally developed Comprehensive Remedial Plan that will bring quality education to all school children. It should fully-fund the first two years of the plan.

But here’s what else legislators should know. If they don’t act, the governor will. Not only does the governor have the authority to direct funding to implement the order – but should for some reason Gov. Roy Cooper be reluctant, Superior Court Judge David Lee has the power to order Cooper to use his authority to get it done.

This is not conjecture or some pie-in-the-sky musing. This has been done before and, if necessary, needs to happen again.

Sixteen years ago amid a budget impasse in the legislature, former Gov. Mike Easley ordered his budget office to direct $75 million for low-wealth schools, at-risk students, teacher recruitment, high school reform and pre-kindergarten programs.
Each item wasn’t simply in his budget – they were part of a May 24, 2005 report from Judge Howard Manning outlining action to fix the state’s lowest-performing schools. A few days later, without any formal challenge to the governor’s authority to act, legislators announced part of a budget deal that largely included Easley’s order.

What should happen? The budget the legislature sends to the governor should include both funding for the next two years of the Comprehensive Remedial Plan for providing every child access to a quality education and a commitment to fully implement the plan over the next eight years.

Do that -- include Medicaid expansion and Cooper’s plan for spending federal COVID-19 relief funds – and they’d have a deal he couldn’t refuse no matter what else – tax cuts, pork barrel spending for favored legislators -- they might stuff into the spending plan.

Other than obstruct and complain about the courts and other advocates actions and plans, legislative leaders have yet to articulate any comprehensive plan of their own. Judge Lee and the opposing sides in the Leandro case have worked in good faith. They have arrived at and presented an effective plan.

Simply put, legislators need to support and adopt the plan or get out of the way.

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