Wrong again, Mr. Robinson: Republican NC governor candidate misleads on education spending
Every time Mark Robinson speaks, he shows he’s unqualified, unprepared and too uninformed to be governor of North Carolina.
The Raleigh News & Observer got a tape of the Republican candidate telling the East Wake Republican Club in December that “it has already been proven that school systems get better results on less money.”
Wrong, Mr. Robinson.
More: LGBTQ, ‘filth,’ Black people owe for slavery among NC Lt. Gov. attacks | Pitts
North Carolina’s experience in the 1990s proves that more money spent right – especially on paying teachers well and giving them the classroom support they need – produces better results.
The 1990s were a golden age for North Carolina’s schools. Jim Hunt, the Education Governor, persuaded even Republicans in the legislature to approve a $1 billion-plus investment in public schools.
More: Biden’s age: The kid is all right | Gary Pearce
Teacher pay was raised to the national average. We went from 43rd in teacher pay among the states to the top 20. Money went to books, classroom supplies, counselors, nurses and teachers’ assistants.
The results: N.C. students’ SAT scores rose dramatically. Our students showed more improvement on standardized measures than any other state.
More money produced better-educated students.
Republicans are failing the schools
Today, Republicans in North Carolina do the opposite. They’re taking a billion dollars out of public schools and giving blank checks to unaccountable, inadequate private church schools that meet no standards, have no certified teachers, discriminate against students of color and with special needs, and are free to teach that dancing is the devil’s work, evolution is a lie and religions other than Christianity are evil.
Then Republicans claim that public schools are failing.
No, they’re failing the schools.
They’re failing 1.36 million students who go to those schools.
Teacher shortages
No wonder more than 10,000 of the state’s 90,000 teachers left the profession in 2023.
WRAL reported that “about 6,000 teaching positions were not filled by a qualified teacher at the beginning of the school year ... The shortage of qualified teachers spans every subject area now, whereas for decades only math, science and special education typically experienced a shortage.”
Robinson repeats the canard that “cutting the fat” from a “bloated bureaucracy” will solve the problem.
But Republicans are the ones presiding over that bureaucracy.
They’re not cutting fat. They’re cutting North Carolina’s muscles, bones and brains.
And Robinson isn’t cut out to be governor.
Gary Pearce was a reporter and editor at The News & Observer, a political consultant, and an adviser to Gov. Jim Hunt (1976-1984 and 1992-2000). He blogs about politics and public policy at Talking About Politics, along with Carter Wrenn.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Unprepared NC governor candidate Robinson is wrong again
