Democrats’ Resistance to Reform Costs N.C. Students

Perdue Has Failed to Lead State’s Education System

Raleigh, N.C. – Last month, Governor Bev Perdue and other North Carolina education officials traveled to Washington to make their case for North Carolina to receive “Race to the Top” federal school reform grants.  Today, they learned that they failed in their efforts.  States that did receive the grants, Tennessee and Delaware, had moved to accept education reforms such as instituting performance pay for teachers and abolishing caps on charter schools.  (“N.C. misses out on first ‘Race to the Top’ grants,” WRAL, 3/29/10)  In North Carolina, Governor Perdue and her Democratic allies in the General Assembly have failed to act on common sense reform proposals favored by both the Obama administration and Republicans in the state legislature.  Meanwhile, the state budget passed by Governor Perdue and Democratic leaders in the General Assembly last year cut hundreds of millions of dollars out of classroom budgets and caused thousands of teachers to lose their jobs.

Senate Republican Leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) made the following statement:

“North Carolina should be a national leader in education but Governor Perdue and Democratic state education officials have proven time after time they are more interested in protecting liberal dogmas and special interests than moving our students forward.  Governor Perdue’s vision for education is more of the same policies that failed to prove successful in the Race to the Top review, legislative Democrats have shown the same lack of interest in common sense reforms such as pay for performance and expanding public charter school opportunities for students.  As long as Democrats in North Carolina refuse to change, our students and the goal of quality education, will suffer.”

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