WNC4PE releases voter guide

Candidates for NC House and Senate in several Western North Carolina districts have shared their perspectives and opinions on 10 issues affecting public education in the region in the WNC Education Voter Guide, produced by Western North Carolina for Public Education (WNC4PE). The Education Voter Guide includes candidate responses to questions about teacher pay, classroom assistants, testing, A-F grading and more.

The complete Education Voter Guide is available in an online interactive version or a free PDF download at WNC4PE.org.

The Tryon Daily Bulletin has excerpted portions below that are relative to voters in the state’s 113th district, which includes Polk County. Cody Henson is the Republican candidate and Maureen Copelof is the Democratic candidate, for the office currently held by Republican Chris Whitmire. NC Senate candidates, Republican Ralph Hise (incumbent) and Democrat Mary Jane Boyd, did not respond to WNC4PE’s request for statements.

Q1: Have you personally visited a local public school in the last 12 months to see first-hand how students, teachers, and staff overcome challenges every day?

Cody Henson: Yes

Maureen Copelof: Yes, I have visited schools and talked with teachers and students about the challenges they face, and have met with the School Superintendents and with members of school boards in District 113.

Q2: Would you vote in favor of increasing North Carolina’s per-pupil spending to a rate equal to 2008, adjusted for inflation?

Cody Henson: Yes. We are not far from 2008 levels for per-pupil sending, adjusted for inflation.

Maureen Copelof: Yes, our per-pupil expenditure level is way too low. We must invest in our public schools and ensure that we have the supplies, the textbooks, the technology necessary to provide high quality education to all our children.

Q3: Would you vote in favor of a substantial (5-10%) permanent pay raise (not a one-time bonus) for ALL public school teachers?

Cody Henson: Yes

Maureen Copelof: Yes, we must pay our teachers a salary that allows us to attract and retain high quality teachers. The one time pay raise to some teachers is no solution and giving the raise to only junior teachers demotivates our more experienced teachers. We must allow salary growth so that we do not lose our experienced teachers to other states.

Q4: Would you vote in favor of returning to 2008 levels the number of classroom teaching assistants?

Cody Henson: No. The needs of NC schools have changed since 2008.  I hate the idea that we have to go back to a certain time period to make NC education the best. Let’s focus on the need today for teaching assistants.

Maureen Copelof: Yes, I would return the number of TA’s to 2008 levels. Teaching assistants play a vital role in the classroom. Eliminating these jobs puts more of a burden on our teachers and has a negative impact on students. It makes no sense to save money by eliminating needed positions. We must view public education as an investment.

Q5: Would you vote for reinstituting the prestigious “North Carolina Teaching Fellows Program” that helps build our pipeline of talented and quality teachers who stay in our state?

Cody Henson: Yes. Let’s focus on improving the lives of teachers to encourage students to want to become teachers, not set up more programs. I’d rather see teachers have control of their classrooms again and develop an even greater love for the job they’ve been called to do.

Maureen Copelof: Yes, this was a wonderful program and we need to reinstate it.

Q6: Would you vote in favor of reducing required testing and assessments so that teachers can teach and students can embrace a love of learning (rather than a fear of tests)?

Cody Henson: Yes. We are putting too much emphasis on passing a test instead of actually teaching students skills they will need in life. Tests are important in gauging the knowledge of students throughout the year but when we are more worried about test scores than actual knowledge, we hurt the future of these children.

Maureen Copelof: Yes, we have overburdened our teachers and students with excessive testing. We need to give our teachers and local administrators more control over how they teach and not constrain them with all these tests.

Q7: Would you vote to remove achievement test-based ratings also known as Value Added Measurements (VAM) from teacher evaluations?

Cody Henson: No.

Maureen Copelof: Yes, I would remove VAMs from teacher evaluations. These statistical measures often do not take into consideration the multitude of facts that can impact the test results of a student. The teacher plays a large role but so do the parents, the socio-economic environment, etc.

Q8: Would you vote to either eliminate North Carolina’s A-F rating systems for schools or else vote to provide the funding, assistance and support that “failing” schools need to become successful ones?

Cody Henson: Yes. We need to work toward actually helping these failing schools. Regardless of what grading system there is, if a school is failing we need to find out why and fix the problem.

Maureen Copelof: Yes. We need to revise the rating system as we are not properly measuring the true achievement of schools, especially those in low income areas. Students in these schools may very well have made significant progress from where they started but the grading system doesn’t take this into account.

Q9: Was creating an “Achievement School District” a good idea for public education?

Cody Henson: Cannot answer Yes or No because this program is still in it’s beginning stages. Just because it failed in other states does not mean it will in NC. It’s a step towards helping failing schools turnaround. I don’t want to label it a bad idea before the results come back.

Maureen Copelof: No, creating these Achievement School Districts was a bad idea. We need to work within the existing system to help struggling schools. Removing them from local control and placing them under a charter system is not the solution.

Q10: Would you vote to ensure that any school – public or private – that receives our tax dollars for education should be completely accountable and transparent to the public and not discriminate based on race, sexual orientation, and/or religion?

Cody Henson: Cannot answer Yes or No. I do not believe taxpayer dollars should be given to private institutions until we can take care of our public education system.

Maureen Copelof: Yes. Public dollars must be accountable and transparent so that the public knows how their funds are being spent. All schools that receive public money need to be held to the same standards in terms of accountability and transparency, and should not be allowed to discriminate.

WNC4PE is a nonpartisan alliance of concerned citizens, including parents and educators, across Western North Carolina who advocate for children by working with lawmakers and informing voters to ensure our public schools have ample resources to provide quality education. We believe that all of North Carolina’s children deserve to attend public schools that are conducive to learning, with supportive adults, quality instruction and minimal exposure to standardized testing and assessments.

– article submitted by Betsey Russell