Archives by: Kris Nordstrom

Kris Nordstrom

Kris Nordstrom's articles and posts

Original Commentary Progressive Voices Top Story

Five steps Gov. Cooper can take to ensure the Leandro ruling benefits students for years to come

In November, the Supreme Court handed down a landmark ruling in the long-running Leandro court case. By a 4-3 margin, the justices ordered the state to provide our public schools, early education providers, and higher education institutions the funding necessary to implement years two and three of the Leandro Comprehensive Remedial Plan. The court ruled that the state continues to violate the constitutional rights of North Carolina’s students to have access to a “sound basic education.”

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Original Commentary Other Voices Progressive Voices Top Story

North Carolina’s teacher shortage: the inevitable result of the General Assembly’s decade-long effort to degrade the profession

While there are many disagreements in education policy, nearly all researchers agree that within the school walls, there’s nothing more important than an ...
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Other Voices Progressive Voices Top Story

Leandro plan provides a golden opportunity for progress and common ground on school choice

In January, Governor Roy Cooper surprised many by issuing an official proclamation recognizing School Choice Week. The proclamation had long been a priority of school choice advocates in North Carolina such as the North Carolina Association for Public Charter Schools, which viewed the gesture as “an olive branch.”

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Original Commentary Progressive Voices Top Story

NC schoolchildren deserve better than childish excuses

“You can’t make me.” All of us have heard this taunt at some point during our childhood. “You can’t make me” says so much in four short words. It says, “I have the power, not you.” It says, “your interests are far less important than mine.” It’s a statement that’s selfish and demeans the less powerful.

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Other Voices Progressive Voices Top Story

NC legislators waste little time in trying to further privatize state’s public schools

As state legislatures have started their sessions, anti-public school legislators have wasted no time introducing “school choice” bills that would divert public funds to privatization schemes. In the first three weeks of January alone, 34 bills to expand private education options had been introduced in 15 states.

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Original Commentary Progressive Voices Top Story

Don’t rely on the ABC Science Collaborative study to inform school re-opening decisions

As schools begin spring semester classes, local leaders in North Carolina face the weighty decision of whether to offer in-person instruction. Local leaders have been handed no favors from federal and state officials who have abrogated their responsibility to establish objective criteria for in-person instruction that would apply to all schools, public and non-public alike.

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Top Story

Lack of new investment moves NC even further from delivering kids the education they’re owed

NC devotes a smaller share of its economy towards its public schools than any other state in the nation The most damning aspect of the watershed Leandro consultant’s report is the authors’ meticulously documentation of how a decade of poor legislative leadership caused our education system to regress.

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Original Commentary Progressive Voices Top Story

Why NC needs to hit the pause on school choice until we meet students’ basic needs

When you’re stuck in a hole, the best advice is to stop digging. Few would dispute that North Carolina’s public schools currently find themselves in a hole. Over the past decade, Raleigh’s lawmakers have chosen to prioritize tax cuts for the rich over investing in our students. Over this period, student achievement has stalled with shockingly few high school graduates prepared for college-level coursework. The opportunity gaps faced by Black, Latinx and Native American students, and those from families with low incomes, have remained persistently high. Racial and economic segregation have increased.

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Progressive Voices Top Story

Leandro funding recommendations: Much lower than reported, readily affordable

Despite the alarm and denial with which they have been greeted in some circles, the recent recommendations of a national education research group to the presiding judge in North Carolina's 26-year-old Leandro education finance lawsuit are quite reasonable and within the state's capacity to readily implement. Indeed, according to national experts, North Carolina doesn’t have to break the bank in order to finally begin meeting its constitutional obligation to provide every child with a good education.

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Progressive Voices Top Story

Does money matter in public education? Let us count the ways.

Powerful new research confirms numerous benefits of substantially increasing public investments For decades, a debate raged in education policy circles: does money matter? While this question has definitively been answered by academics, it will undoubtedly be the subject of heated debate over the next year in North Carolina.   In June, court-appointed consultants submitted a much-anticipated report detailing how North Carolina can meet its constitutional requirement to provide a “sound, basic education” to all students.

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