Public education unlocks the doors to the world and allows our democracy to flourish. Children who have learned the skill of lifelong learning are prepared to chart their own path. Schools should be places where students learn to think. Being prepared for life means that a student can understand a controversial idea, think about that idea, and articulate the reasons that the student agrees or disagrees with it. Preparing our students for the next phase of their lives means giving them two things at once: first, the tool set that all people need to function in the 21st century, and second, the opportunities and the access to those opportunities to develop themselves so that they can choose as well as are prepared for wherever they want to go after they graduate from high school.

Funding for North Carolina’s public schools has not kept pace with the growing costs of a growing state. According to the Education Law Center's Making the Grade Report 2023, North Carolina’s per-pupil expenditure of slightly more than $11,000 annually ranked 48th out of 50 states and the District of Columbia, an amount that is about $5,000 less per pupil than the national average. South Carolina, by comparison, ranked 27th in the country with a per pupil expenditure of more than $15,000 and Virginia ranked 35th with more than $14,000 per pupil. In short, the amount available for local school districts to spend on public education in North Carolina is significantly less than the amount available to districts in neighboring states. This puts us at a regional and national disadvantage. Data shows that investing more resources in public education, particularly in targeted strategic ways such as early interventions, educator compensation, and support services for disadvantaged students, makes a major difference in how well students learn.

Every person who learned from, and was inspired by, a good teacher understands intrinsically what it means to have that privilege. We know that teachers have the most influence on student learning. North Carolina is not paying its educators enough and in turn, not respecting educators in the ways that they should be respected. Educators need to be paid appropriately and their working conditions need to reflect the respect that they deserve.

Schools are only one part of a child’s life. Families are the most important people in a child’s life and they are the most important partners for schools. Important, too, are community organizations, churches, synagogues, non-profits, healthcare providers, mental health providers, social service providers, volunteers, and community organizations that impact children. Study after study shows that students who have strong parent and/or community support do far better than students who do not. Parents and community also make a major difference in the life of the school itself, creating the type of environment where students learn and grow.

In 2024, we have so many reminders of the ways in which our world can threaten the physical and emotional well-being of our students. We cannot make our schools completely safe from everything, and we do have to teach our children how to live in a world with a great deal of danger in it. But we also have learned so much about the ways to protect our schools from threats both internal and external. We need to be sharing what we do know across the state and putting the features in place that will have the best chance of keeping everyone safe.

Families all across North Carolina send their children to the local public school - in fact, the vast majority of them do choose public education. They entrust their children to the educators whose bright faces greet them each morning. They build community around high school football games on Friday nights and middle school band performances. Each year, thousands of students walk across stages to cheers and tears as they are, in fact, prepared to go out and lead the life they choose. Our schools did not become bright beacons of hope all on their own. Generations of North Carolinians have made the choice to invest in them and make them strong, which is noteworthy.