GOP plan would delay social studies standards, lets parents challenge ‘unfit’ material
North Carolina House Republicans want to use the state budget to delay new social studies standards, require teachers to post lesson plans online and create a way for parents to object to materials used in schools.
State House GOP leaders unveiled this week parts of their proposed state budget plan, including a variety of education changes targeted at concerns that schools are indoctrinating students. These items are likely to draw complaints from Democratic lawmakers that the plan would micromanage schools and would negatively impact minority students.
Several of the items were included in legislation that passed in the House this year but have been stalled in the Senate..
Here are some of the items in the House education proposal:
Delay social studies standards
North Carolina public schools are supposed to begin using this school year a set of new K-12 social studies standards that supporters say are more inclusive of the experience of women, minorities and other historically marginalized groups.
But critics claim the new standards are Marxist and incorporate Critical Race Theory, which the UNC-Chapel Hill history department says is a “scholarly framework that describes how race, class, gender, and sexuality organize American life.”
The House budget calls for delaying the new social studies standards until at least the 2023-24 school year. In the meantime, the budget would create a Standards Review Commission to review the social studies standards.
The Standards Review Commission would consist of educators, parents and other members of the community. Members would be appointed by the Republican-controlled General Assembly.
Post teacher lesson plans online
The budget would require school districts to post online what instructional materials are being used, including teacher lesson plans.
House Republicans say the provision “ensures that tax dollars are spent to educate our students and not on distracting political projects.” But Democrats have said this requirement will add on to the workload of overburdened teachers.
In a related budget provision, school boards would be required to create a local community media advisory committee to investigate and evaluate challenges to instructional materials and supplemental materials on the grounds that they are “unfit” materials.
The budget also calls for the State Board of Education to create a State Community Media Advisory Committee to review challenges of materials, including those rejected by local committees.
Cracking down on school discipline
The budget would remove from state law examples of violations not serious enough for a long-term school suspension. That includes inappropriate language, noncompliance, dress code violations and minor physical alterations.
The examples had been added to state law in 2011 to address concerns that students were being harshly suspended for relatively minor infractions. But GOP lawmakers contend that including those four examples has hamstrung principals, causing them to be reluctant to give any kind of suspensions for those behaviors.
But Democrats have said the changes will result in minority students, particularly Black children, being disproportionately suspended. They cite research showing that Black students are treated more harshly than white students for the same infractions.
Teach cursive or be penalized
The budget would crack down on school districts that are not following a state law requiring them to teach cursive writing and multiplication tables.
A bill passed by state lawmakers in 2013 requires that public schools teach cursive writing so that students “create readable documents through legible cursive handwriting by the end of fifth grade.” The “Back to Basics” law also says students in public schools are required to memorize multiplication tables.
Under the budget, the superintendents of districts that are not following the law would be penalized. The state would withhold state funding for the superintendent’s salary, requiring the district to pick up the state’s share.
Helping charter schools
The budget has several provisions designed to help charter schools, which are taxpayer funded schools that are exempt from some of the rules traditional public schools must follow. The provisions would:
▪ End the pilot program status of the state’s two virtual charter schools and allow them to stay open for four more years. They’d then become eligible for renewal like brick and mortar charters
The N.C. Cyber Connections Academy and the N.C. Virtual Academy would also be allowed to increase their enrollment, which is now capped by the pilot program.
Democrats questioned the change because the virtual charters have been academically low-performing since they’ve opened. Republicans said they’d face greater accountability as regular charter schools, including being closed if their performance doesn’t improve.
▪ Give charter school applicants who are rejected by the state board multiple opportunities to revise their applications before a final decision is made.
▪ Require municipalities to grant water and sewer service to charter schools. Lawmakers have cited how the Durham City Council refused to extend utilities to a new charter school.
Ending requirement that teachers pay for a sub
The budget has several less controversial education items, including:
▪ Ends the requirement that teachers pay for a substitute teacher to cover their classes when they take personal leave on a school day. To get this exemption, teachers would need to give their principal a reason for the personal day.
▪ Allows school districts to continue operating virtual academies and to use remote instruction days.
▪ Allows the state board to not issue this year A-F letter grades that are given to every school based on their academic performance. The change doesn’t involve individual student grades.
▪ Allows school districts to not lower kindergarten class sizes this fall if their kindergarten enrollment come in at least 5% more than projected. Kindergarten enrollment was down last school year, raising the possibility that parents waited a year to enroll their children.
▪ Revises the definition of year-round schools to match a request from Wake County to cover the calendar used by its track 4 schools.
What’s next
In the coming days, the House will release the rest of the budget, including proposed raises for teachers and other state-funded employees.
Once the House adopts the budget, GOP leaders in the House and Senate will try to agree on a budget plan that both bodies can approve. It will then go to Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper who could veto the budget.
Republicans don’t have enough votes to override a budget veto so they’d need to get some Democratic help.
This story was originally published August 6, 2021 at 1:52 PM.
