A Federal Assault on Public Schools and State/Local Control |
Among the barrage of executive orders from the new administration came two on Wednesday that are direct assaults on public schools. While both executive orders seem designed to push legal boundaries and are unlikely to have an immediate funding effect, as they work through the legal system, they will undoubtedly cause confusion/chaos and may inflict massive damage to our students and communities.
Expanding Educational Freedom directs federal agencies to develop guidance on how states can use federal funds to support K-12 educational choices. The order specifically emphasizes directing funds to support options such as private and faith-based options. This order ignores the overwhelming rejection of voucher programs (private school choice) by voters, most recently in Kentucky, Nebraska, and Colorado as well as in ALL prior efforts.
This executive order takes a wrecking ball to state jurisdiction over education. Many states explicitly prohibit the use of public dollars for private education. For example, the South Carolina Constitution (Article XI, Section 4) states that “No money shall be paid from public funds nor shall the credit of the State or any of its political subdivisions be used for the direct benefit of any religious or other private educational institution.”
By directing funding toward faith-based schools, the order also directly challenges the U.S. Constitution’s separation of church and state. Although the scope of the First Amendment’s Establishment and Free Exercise clauses has been widely debated, this new executive order goes beyond previous efforts to secure funding for religious schools.
The department secretaries charged with developing new funding guidance per “Expanding Educational Freedom” include the Secretary of Education, Secretary of Labor, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of the Interior. All agencies under their direction manage discretionary grant programs and/or provide for education directly through agency-run schools such as the highly acclaimed Department of Defense schools, which operate across the globe.
For most agencies, the order states a 60 or 90 day window in which this new guidance is to be developed. Legal challenges may delay and/or derail this order.
|
|
|---|
|
|
The other order signed on Wednesday “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling” challenges current federal law that explicitly prohibits the federal government from exercising “any direction, supervision, or control over the curriculum, program of instruction, administration, or personnel of educational institution, school, or school system…”
The executive order does exactly what federal law prohibits. It requires an examination of K-12 curriculum and instruction programs as well as K-12, teacher certification, licensing, employment, and training programs. Within 90 days, the Secretary of Education, the Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of Health and Human Services must present plans for eliminating federal funding, including grants or contracts that directly or indirectly support the ideas found objectionable (e.g., gender or equity ideology).
In its clear violation of federal law, this order will also face legal challenges.
In North Carolina, curriculum decisions are made at the district and school level. While the state does establish the North Carolina Standard Course of Study, which outlines content standards for each grade, the state does not dictate which curriculum educators use to meet the content standards
As the new administration seeks ways to cut unnecessary spending, ending the practice of issuing legally flawed executive orders should top the list. Funds spent on crafting and defending these orders could be spent much more productively in the interest of supporting public schools and the hundreds of other programs designed to improve American lives.
|
|
|---|
|
|
NAEP (Student) and PIAAC (Adult) Score Trends |
The National Center for Ed. Statistics released National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) results this week. As news outlets across the country reported, the news isn’t good. The nation’s average reading scores in grades 4 & 8 declined from 2022, were essentially the same in 2022 and 2024 for grade 8 math and increased in 2024 for grade 4 math.
These score drops were largely driven by students in the lower half of the achievement range. In 2024, students in the upper half of the achievement range in math scored significantly better than their counterparts in 2022. In reading, there was no significant difference, except in grade 4 reading, where scores were lower.
The picture for North Carolina is better than for the nation. Reading scores were statistically the same in 2022 and 2024. Our 2024 math scores were statistically higher in grade 4 and statistically the same as 2022 in grade 8.
However, these results should be viewed in the larger context of NAEP scores over time.
Scores started dropping well before the pandemic. In North Carolina, math score trends show this clearly. In both grades, high scores were in the years 2011-13, with steady declines in the years after, and sharp drops in 2022, the first testing year after the pandemic.
|
This trend is seen across the US and many other countries. In Testing Theories of Why: Four Keys to Interpreting US Student Achievement Trends, Nat Malkus (American Enterprise Institute) analyzes longitudinal data from 21 nationally representative assessments, including international assessments (e.g., PISA, TIMMS). He found that test scores were nearly all at their highest in the years between 2012-15.
He also notes that scores for the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) an international test of adult literacy, numeracy, and adaptive problem solving shared similar declines. (Adaptive problem solving was introduced in 2023, so no year-year comparison is available.) In the U.S., adult numeracy and literacy scores were significantly lower in 2023 than in previous years.
|
|
|---|
|
|
Across all tests, he found clear trends:
- Test score declines were driven by the bottom half of the distribution, both pre-and post-pandemic. In other words, test takers in the bottom half of test scores are performing worse over time.
- The gap between high and low achievers is growing, and it’s growing more in the U.S. than any other nation. This is the academic equivalent of “In the U.S., the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.”
Malkus proposes a few possible explanations, but notes that none can fully explain the trends. Much more work is needed to understand what is causing the score declines, especially for test-takers in the bottom half of the distribution.
-
National Crises: The Great Recession and the Pandemic. The onset of score declines doesn’t align with the onset of the Great Recession, and it is not clear why these crises would have impacted adults as well as students.
-
Education Policy Changes: The End of No Child Left Behind and the Rise of the Common Core. These changes don’t explain the international trends or adult trends since both focused on U.S. K-12 education.
-
Cultural Changes: The Rise of Screens and the Fall of Reading. Screen usage surged starting in 2012 and has had a documented negative impact on time spent reading and in other academic pursuits for both children and adults.
Malkus concludes by stating that the potential explanations “...are all viable, but not satisfying, theories, but such theories must be examined critically because they will inform how schools, families, and communities respond to score declines. Accordingly, until these patterns no longer hold, policymakers, educators, and communities should test their theories for test score declines —those seen here and in future waves of test results—against these four critical factors."
- Downward trend starting in 2013
- Declines driven by the bottom half of the distribution
- Higher absolute achievement gap growth in the US than any other nation
- Similarity of declines for U.S. students and adults
We should keep these factors in mind when seeking to understand what's causing NAEP and other test score declines.
|
|
|---|
|
|
February is Black History Month! |
As we begin Black History Month 2025, North Carolina celebrates our newly elected Superintendent of Public Instruction, Mo Green. The child of two educators, Green has spent his career improving educational opportunities for students throughout the state, Green is the leader North Carolina needs. He is one of many Black leaders who have made tremendous contributions to our state; we are grateful to have him in charge of our public education system. |
On February 27, Green will join Public Schools First NC for a discussion of education issues facing North Carolina and his vision for the future. Join us! There will be time for Q & A with participants. REGISTER HERE |
|
|---|
|
|
Legislative and SBE Updates |
|
|---|
|
|
|
The North Carolina General Assembly returned to Raleigh on January 29 and will reconvene on Monday, February 3. Keep an eye on their calendar for updates and streaming information.
Check our Week in Review for updates on education-related bills.
The State Board of Education will meet February 5 and 6 for their monthly meeting. (Agenda and Livestream)
|
|
|
|
|
On Friday, a number of senators, including both N.C. senators, introduced a bill that would provide $10 billion in annual tax credits to fund private and religious schools.
According to the Economic Policy Institute, Senate Bill 292 "Educational Choice for Children Act (ECCA) would establish "a new tax credit for individuals and corporations who make charitable contributions to organizations that give scholarships – or vouchers – for students to attend private schools. Currently, vouchers overwhelmingly support wealthy parents who are already sending their children to private school. ECCA will, in effect, redirect federal funding away from other, crucial government services, towards wealthy individuals and families."
Tax credit vouchers are simply another way to drain resources from the public and funnel them to private interests.
Contact Senators Ted Budd and Thom Tillis to urge them to remove their sponsorship of this harmful bill!
|
|
|
|
|
NC needs a different school funding model and help for teachers, advocates, lawmakers say
NC students score at or above average on national assessment, but pandemic gaps persist
NC Superintendent Mo Green talks about school funding, cellphones in the classroom, and listening
Teaching Fellows build their numbers
Our Taxes, Their Slush Fund: How a cyber charter school spends Pennsylvanians' tax dollars on dining, hotels, travel, entertainment, and more
|
|
|
|
|
North Carolina is home to 481,044 rural students, the second largest rural student population in the U.S., after Texas!
Eighty of North Carolina's counties are rural and approximately 42 percent of schools in the state are rural, with more than one in three students attending school in a rural district.
Learn more about our rural schools; Read our NEW RURAL SCHOOLS FACT SHEET!
|
|
|
|
Rural Texans and Vouchers |
|
|---|
|
|
|
WORTH YOUR TIME!
A recent episode of the podcast "Have You Heard" with Jennifer Berkshire and Jack Schneider titled These Conservative Texans Oppose School Vouchers is a deep dive into the fierce battle waging in Texas over school vouchers.
From the podcast description: Vouchers are not conservative. That’s what we heard again and again when we talked to Texans who consider themselves Republicans but oppose their party’s top education priority. We hear from rural Texans who are taking the attacks on their local schools very personally, and business minded Republicans who fear the consequences of privatizing education for workforce development.
|
|
|
|
|
February 6, 7 p.m. The Cost of Disruption
Join us for a timely conversation with scholars Dr. Rachel White (University of Texas at Austin) and Dr. Rebecca Jacobsen (Michigan State University).
We will review the research of Dr. White, co-author of a new study, “The Costs of Conflict: The Fiscal Impact of Culturally Divisive Conflict on Public Schools in the United States,” and Dr. Jacobsen, co-author of the forthcoming “The Politics of Disruption.” Their work details how the politics of disruption are costing public schools and how the disruption is negatively impacting school boards and eroding community trust.
There will be time for Q & A. to prepare for the discussion, read the report, The Costs of Conflict: The Fiscal Impact of Culturally Divisive Conflict on Public Schools in the United States.
REGISTER HERE
February 27, 7 p.m. A Conversation with Mo Green, NC Superintendent of Public Instruction
Join NC PTA and Public Schools First NC for the first in our series of interviews with new public education leaders. Mo Green was elected in November, 2024 to serve as the next NC Superintendent of Public Instruction. We will talk to Superintendent Green about his vision for the Dept. of Public Instruction. Q & A with the audience if time allows.
REGISTER HERE
|
|
|
|
Advocate During Love Month! |
|
|---|
|
|
|
Love Our Children NC has been working tirelessly on ending exclusionary discipline in New Hanover County. During February (LOVE MONTH), they are seeking support from across the state and especially from residents of New Hanover County to help them advocate for a change to the county's short-term suspension policy:
Principals shall contact K-2 parents before a suspension determination is made.
They have lots of ideas of how you can help:
- Send an official letter (or email) of support to the New Hanover County Board of Education at [email protected]. Copy them on it.
-
Make a 30 to 60 second video of support for social media. Tag Love Our Children on your video.
Email them for more ideas: [email protected]
|
|
|
|
Virtual Office Hours with the NCPTA and Public Schools First NC |
|
|---|
|
|
|
Join us (NCPTA, PSFNC) monthly during the legislative session for updates on bills, policy or budget changes, etc. that impact public education. Bring your questions and suggestions; participate in the conversation to support our public schools.
Office hours will be held via Zoom on Thursdays from 5:00 - 6:00 p.m. on the following dates:
- February 20
- March 20
- April 17
- May 15
- June 19
JOIN HERE
|
|
|
|
|
Multiple Dates, 7:00-8:30 pm: Resilience and ACES. Learn about Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) and resilience. Join us for this award-winning, 60-minute film, Resilience: The Biology of Stress & The Science of Hope. This documentary examines how abuse, neglect, and other adverse childhood experiences affect children’s development & health outcomes in adulthood. This powerful movie is a conversation starter and a perspective changer.
REGISTER HERE
|
All screenings are on Thursday and include time for discussion. Invite a friend and contact us about setting up a private screening for your school staff, PTA, civic group, church, or synagogue.
- February 26
- March 27
- April 24
|
|
|
|
Words to Remember
“In public schools, students have numerous constitutional rights, including equal protection, due process, free speech, and both free exercise of religion and freedom from religion. None of these constitutional protections apply in private schools.”
— The School Voucher Illusion, p. 81
|
|
|---|
|
|
Help us support public schools!
Public Schools First NC is a statewide nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused solely
on pre-K to 12 public education issues. We collaborate with parents, teachers, business and civic leaders, and communities across North Carolina to advocate for one unified system of public education that prepares each child for productive citizenship.
|
|
|---|
|
|
|
