Education Matters

The North Carolina State Health Plan is managed by the State Treasurer of North Carolina Dale Folwell. His office has been engaged in a bitter battle with the state’s hospitals and healthcare networks over pricing and the contract dispute has more than 700,000 teachers, state employees, retirees and their dependents caught in the middle. This week we talk to Treasurer Dale Folwell about his plans...

Last year, students from Wake County’s Middle Creek High School, along with students from two other local schools, worked with the Alabama-based Equal Justice Initiative to document the only confirmed lynching case in Wake County. Following this transformative work, students began working with the Wake County Truth and Reconciliation Commission's ongoing efforts to bring a memorial marker and othe...

Just one day after the General Assembly passed a new state budget, Governor Roy Cooper announced he was vetoing it, citing lack of investment in public education and failure to expand Medicaid to provide health coverage for low income North Carolinians. So what happens next? We’re joined today by two top political reporters to discuss. We’re also going to continue our series of interviews with can...

Some of North Carolina’s top rated high schools are what are commonly referred to as early college high schools. These schools allow students to earn college credits while working towards graduation and are typically paired with a local community college or university. The North Carolina Senate now wants to end funding for them. This week we talk to early college leaders and advocates about the pl...

The State of North Carolina is fortunate to be home to thousands of exceptional public school teachers. In fact North Carolina leads the nation in the percentage of Nationally Board Certified teachers, the gold standard for professional excellence in teaching. This week on the show you’re going to meet three rock star teachers including the new 2019 NC Teacher of the Year Mariah Morris from Moore...

E-cigarettes, Vaping. Juuling. Whatever you know it by, their use is skyrocketing among students. Last week North Carolina became the first state in the country to file a lawsuit against popular e-cigarette maker Juul Labs alleging the company is downplaying the potency and danger of nicotine and illegally targeting young people through its marketing and advertising. This week we’re joined by Nort...

The school year may be nearing an end, but education policymaking is heating up in Raleigh. For the second year in a row, thousands of teachers marched and rallied outside the General Assembly. At the very same time House lawmakers were passing their proposed state budget for the next 2 years including many key education provisions. This week we recap the teacher rally with our interviews from the...

The rate of teen suicide in North Carolina has doubled in the last 10 years. Self-harm among 10- to 14-year-old girls in the U.S. has nearly tripled since 2009. Nearly one in seven U.S. children and adolescents has a mental health condition and half go untreated. This week we explore this often difficult topic with a panel experts to try to understand the real facts and where to go from here. We’l...

On May 16th last year, nearly 20,000 North Carolina teachers descended on Raleigh for a march and rally outside the NC General Assembly asking for more support for public schools and respect for the teaching profession. Teachers are planning another rally on May 1 this year asking the General Assembly to fully fund public education. This week we’re joined by Mark Jewell, President of the NC Associ...

Our state’s public schools are facing critical teacher shortages and longer term teaching vacancies. At the same time, enrollment in the state’s teacher preparation programs continue to lag. In response, state leaders have been looking at ways to expand the teacher pipeline including recruiting more out-of-state teachers and adding new pathways to teaching careers. This week we talk with several e...

There appears to be a growing bipartisan consensus that we’re over-testing our state’s public school students. There’s also increasing scrutiny over how those standardized tests are being used to assign A-F letter grades to schools and to set pay for teachers and principals. This week we talk with two legislators who are both NC classroom teachers and are backing efforts in the House for changes....

Two years ago, Roy Cooper was elected Governor of North Carolina as a champion for teachers and public schools. He’s just unveiled his proposed state budget to a more balanced General Assembly than the Republican supermajority of his first two years, but one where the GOP remains firmly in charge. Governor Cooper joins us this week for the full show to talk about his education priorities and what...

This week on Education Matters we welcome two educators who are making news. First up is Leigh Kokenes. She’s a School Psychologist in the Wake County Public Schools System and was recently named the National School Psychologist of the Year. We’ll talk to Leigh about role of a school psychologist and what our students and schools need. Then we’ll continue our series of State Superintendent candida...

It’s been more than two years since Mark Johnson was elected State Superintendent of Public Instruction. He’s just unveiled a new initiative that aims to make North Carolina the best place to learn and teach by the year 2030. Superintendent Johnson joins us this week for the full show to talk about the new effort and his legislative agenda. We ask him about everything from private school vouchers...

The history of school desegregation includes many important stories of courageous African American families and their children who were the first to attend previously whites-only schools. But there’s another history that often goes untold. That one is about the rich history of education provided by the historically segregated black schools. Innovative and creative leaders, many of them born in sla...

A study released this week by the Public School Forum of NC shows a growing gap in public school funding between the highest and lowest-wealth counties in the state. These funding disparities have a real impact on education, including the ability of lower wealth counties to fund local supplemental pay to attract and retain teachers. We talk to the study’s lead, plus two NC school superintendents,...

According to the Institute for Emerging Issues at NC State, people in North Carolina are feeling more disconnected than ever and they want to do something about it. So IEI launched a three-year initiative called ReCONNECT NC and this week hundreds of people convened in Raleigh to focus on reconnection between rural and urban areas. The Institute’s Director Leslie Boney joins us talk about the chal...

The State Treasurer of North Carolina has broad responsibilities over the finances of the state that have big implications for public education including state employee retirement and pension plans, the State Health Plan and how the state finances school construction. This week we talk with State Treasurer Dale Folwell about these topics and more. We also talk with an NC State Professor, Dr. Micha...

North Carolina’s public schools are becoming increasingly diverse with students of color now making up more than 50 percent of total enrollment. The state’s teaching workforce, however, does not reflect that diversity, with about 80 percent of teachers both white and female. Does it matter, and if so what do we need to do about it? Guests: • Kelly Hinchcliffe, Education Reporter, WRAL News • Lena...

This week’s show was recorded live at the Public School Forum of North Carolina’s Eggs & Issues Breakfast. A panel of award winning educators and students discuss the top education issues facing the state in 2019. Guests: • Beth Embree, 2018-19 NC School Counselor of the Year, Catawba County • Alexa Jimenez, 2018 Latinx 20 Under 20, Wake County • Freebird McKinney, 2018 NC Teacher of the Year, Ala...

When the new NC General Assembly was sworn in last week, about 1/4 of the 50-member Senate were new faces. On the House side, 26 brand new members joined, about 20 percent of the 120-member chamber. That group included 17 Democrats who helped end the Republican’s supermajority, but a legislature where the GOP remains firmly in the majority. This week we’re joined by four of those Freshmen, 2 Democ...

As a new NC General Assembly returns to Raleigh without a Republican supermajority for the first time since 2012, we’re joined by three respected journalists to discuss what to expect in 2019 in terms of education policy and how the new balance of power might shape the debates and key issues. Guests: • Rob Christensen, Former Chief Political Writer, News & Observer • Liz Schlemmer, Education Polic...

Peter Hans became the ninth president of the NC Community College System in May. He now oversees 58 community colleges that educate more than 700,000 students every year, the 3rd largest community college system in the country. This week we talk with Peter about the opportunities and challenges for community colleges and education overall here in North Carolina, as well as his goals for the new ye...

Education research has shown the single most important school-based factor student’s academic success is the classroom teacher. But research also shows that perhaps the next most important factor is the school principal. Most teachers will tell you that the kind of school climate and vision the principal sets is what makes or breaks their success with students. Guests: • Tabari Wallace, 2018 NC Pr...

Satana Deberry campaigned to become Durham County’s next District Attorney advocating for reforms in the criminal justice system, including how students are treated. She’s now one of several new District Attorneys and Sheriffs elected in November in North Carolina and across the U.S. who believe overzealous policing and prosecution has exacerbated a school-to-prison pipeline that disproportionatel...