NC governor’s race: Where Roy Cooper and Dan Forest stand on education issues
Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper is running for reelection this fall. His opponent is Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Forest. Each counts education as an important issue as governor, but they have different ideas of how best to educate North Carolina’s students.
Here’s where they stand on key education issues:
Reopening schools during COVID-19
North Carolina’s K-12 schools reopened Aug. 17 on either a Plan B option, which is a mix of online and in-person learning, with restrictions, or in Plan C, all online. Individual school districts made the call on which way to go, with most starting the school year remote-only. Cooper announced the plan in July, after delaying what he called a “tough call.”
Forest, who serves on the state Board of Education, criticized the reopening plans. He didn’t vote for any of the three plan options as a board member, which ranged from all in-person to remote only. Forest said there wasn’t a goal set, and called it “nonsensical” at the time to suggest students need to wear masks every day and take half days. He said that North Carolina students should go back to school in the way that some other states have reopened.
School choice
Forest is a big supporter of school choice, which is a term used to describe families choosing if their students go to traditional public schools, charter schools or private schools. Forest also supports private school vouchers, a controversial issue that has been criticized by Democrats and public education advocates for taking public funds and spending them on private education that doesn’t follow the same regulations as public schools. But conservatives argue the vouchers allow families more options for their children’s education.
In a response to a candidate questionnaire from the News & Observer, Herald-Sun and Charlotte Observer, Cooper said that “cutting unaccountable private school vouchers” would be one way to address the projected state revenue shortfall.
Teacher pay
Though Medicaid expansion — Cooper wanted it, the Republican-led legislature didn’t — was at the center of the state budget stalemate last year, teacher raises were also a key issue. Cooper proposed a 9% raise. The General Assembly offered a deal to Senate Democrats of a 4.9% raise and $1,000 teacher bonus if they overrode the governor’s budget veto. That never happened, but the legislature did finally pass a 3.5% raise during a one-day session in January. Cooper vetoed that, calling the raises “paltry.”
Then came coronavirus. The legislature passed a bill that would give all teachers a $350 bonus along with step-increases for many teachers, and Cooper signed it. For some, there was a catch: it wasn’t additional money, but from the pot that pays out bonuses to teachers for other reasons, like teaching Advanced Placement classes. Instead the bonus to be paid out by Halloween is a flat bonus to everyone.
“I will keep fighting to give teachers the pay raises they deserve,” Cooper said in the questionnaire. “I support raising pay for public school teachers to at least the national average and reinstating master’s and other advanced degree pay. I also support raising per pupil funding for all public schools to at least the national average,” he said.
The Forest campaign says that he champions higher teacher pay, and lauded the Republican-led legislature for multiple bills raising teacher pay over the past several years.
Responding to the same candidate questionnaire, Forest talked about education causes in giving examples of his civic involvement.
“I’ve become a leader in the school choice movement as a way to help children succeed regardless of their ZIP code. I also spearheaded the N.C. Digital Learning Plan and an initiative to connect every classroom in North Carolina with high-speed internet,” Forest said.
Forest said that principals should have more control over teacher pay.
“There’s no reason to cap the amount our state’s best teachers can earn. We will empower principals to pay teachers based on performance and demand,” Forest said.
Election Day is Nov. 3. Look up your voter information here: ncsbe.gov/index.html.
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This story was originally published August 24, 2020 at 10:18 AM.
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