privatization

Few issues spark debate in North Carolina’s education circles like charter schools. Save for school vouchers and the state’s long-running Leandro school funding lawsuit, few topics that stir a higher level of passion. Supporters, many of whom are conservative voters, see charters as "school choice" options that help families looking to flee low-performing schools.

NC’s complete lack of homeschooling oversight is a disservice to children and our state’s future The idea of compulsory school attendance for children is not a new or radical one in modern society. The World Bank reports that, of the globe's nearly 200 recognized nations, only a tiny handful fail to mandate school attendance.

Managing Raleigh's Torchlight Academy was a lucrative family venture for Don McQueen. The school paid McQueen nearly $3 million in management fees between 2016 and 2020, financial audits submitted by the school show.  The Raleigh businessman ran the K-8 charter school with a reported 600 students (state officials could only confirm 489 during a recent on-site headcount) through his educational management organization (EMO), Torchlight Academy Schools, LLC.

State officials say student records were wrongfully altered at Wake and Bertie County schools by the daughter of the couple who ran them The management of Three Rivers Academy and Torchlight Academy was a family affair when state monitors found “altered documents” in the schools’ exceptional children programs.

Join us Thursday, January 27 at 3:00 p.m. for a very special (and virtual) Crucial Conversation: Donald Cohen, executive director of the founder and executive director of In the Public Interest, an Oakland, California–based national research and policy center, discusses the new book he has co-authored with New York Times best-selling author Allen Mikaelian. It’s called “The Privatization of Everything: How the Plunder of Public Goods Transformed America and How We Can Fight Back.”

The Privatization of Everything
How the Plunder of Public Goods Transformed America and How We Can Fight Back

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It’s a common phenomenon for well-known politicians to become associated with, or remembered for, an inspiring or infamous utterance. “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” “Ask not what your country can do for yourself. Ask what you can do for your country.” “Mr. Gorbachev: tear down this wall.” “I am not a crook.” And this doesn't apply just to presidents.

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.

Tamika Walker Kelly began to hear talk about the N.C. Association of Educators (NCAE) being taken over by "radicals" almost immediately after winning election to become president of the state’s largest teacher advocacy group.  It’s a description with which the Cumberland County elementary school music teacher takes issue.