PNCC Needs YOUR Help!

Our friends at the League of Women Voters of Charlotte Mecklenburg have put together this information to help you contact your State Legislators to ask them to sufficiently fund education. Find your Legislators' Contact info here: https://www.ncleg.gov/FindYourLegislators AND Here are the Email Addresses for all the Leaders involved in Education Funding!
 

The current state budget proposal neglects the education needs of North Carolina children. It ignores the Leandro court ruling and the steps defined in the Comprehensive Remedial Plan.   The League of Women Voters of Charlotte Mecklenburg Education Committee wrote the attached letter to the NC Senate and House leaders and the members of the Appropriations Education Committees.  

We urge you to write a letter to NC General Assembly members for sufficient education funding.  It is important to send letters now while the NC budget process is underway. 

Thank you, 
LWVCM Education Committee
Chairs: John Lee &  Jeanne Smith

Letter Text:

June 30, 2021
To: NC Senate and House Leadership and Appropriations Education Committees

Subject: League of Women Voters of Charlotte Mecklenburg Urges Action

The current NC Senate budget proposal for education has many of us stunned at the lack of will and of any good-faith effort of the current leadership to step up and do the job you are elected to do, and the NC constitution demands (Article IX, EDUCATION). It lacks a vision of a prosperous and forward-

thinking state and a commitment to the people to fund the educational capacity needed to meet the demands of today's economy.

Judge Lee's recent ruling in the Leandro case affirms that North Carolina continues to ignore its constitutional obligation that every NC child receives a sound basic education. The court-ordered comprehensive remedial plan lays out programs, action steps and funding projections to fulfill that obligation. Still, the Senate's budget writers ignore the courts, the people, students and educators and make no serious effort to remedy this decades-long neglect.

The continuing resistance to provide funding is even more egregious given the projected $6.5 Billion in unanticipated revenues and an additional $5 Billion rainy-day fund. The legislative leadership once again proposes another round of tax cuts in place of funding the pre and post pandemic educational needs of public education. This neglects the potential of NC׳s current and future generations and the economic future of the state.

North Carolina is experiencing a dramatic demographic shift in both rural and urban counties. Education is the necessary component in providing prosperity and job opportunities that are the backbone of strong communities. This is a prudent and wise policy.

Funding and the implementation of policies and programs put forth in the Leandro ruling and Comprehensive Remedial Plan are essential and made possible by the current increase in revenues. There is a plan. There is funding. What's needed from you is to take action.

LWVCM Education Committee

Chairs: John Lee (john70lee@gmail.com) Jeanne Smith (jesmith8412@gmail.com)

Thank you for your support and thank you to the League of Women Voters for doing this work! 
 

PNCC is a grateful recipient of a Z. Smith Reynold Foundation's Systemic Change Grant to support Public Education.