NC Child Legislative Update: Feb. 2-6
Slow to Start…
Still not much action on children’s issues at the General Assembly. The big ticket items of the week were the first-ever release of school grades and Gov. McCrory’s State of the State address.
School Grades
Two years ago, the General Assembly approved legislation that subjects all public schools to a grading scale based primarily on standardized test scores. Yesterday, the grades were released and here’s how NC schools stacked up:
- A Grade–5.4%
- B Grade–24%
- C Grade–41.4%
- D Grade–23.1%
- F Grade–6%
High grades tracked largely with high-income student populations, while schools with lower grades tended to have a higher percentage of children in poverty. Critics of the grading system say that it stigmatizes schools in poor areas, while failing to take into account student growth.
On Wednesday, Sen. Josh Stein introduced SB30, Value Student Learning Act, which would increase emphasis on student growth in school performance grades.
State of the State
Gov. McCrory gave his State of the State address this week and renewed his call for raising beginning teacher pay to $35,000 per year. He also touched on the idea of Medicaid expansion, saying that we need to look into “North Carolina options” for insuring the uninsured and that any proposal must include “personal and financial responsibility.” Beyond that, he provided very few details about what expanded health insurance could look like.
Gov. McCrory’s level of influence remains a big question heading into the 2015 legislative session; it will be important to watch how his role in the legislative process develops throughout the year.
Bills
SB14, Acad. Standards/Rules Review/Coal Ash/Funds — This bill allocates $250,000 to fund the Academic Standards Commission, which was set up last year to review and replace the Common Core standards, but did not initially receive an appropriation. The bill was introduced on Monday, passed through the Appropriations Committee on Tuesday, and passed the full Senate on Wednesday.
HB45, Child Advocacy Center Funds — This bill would allocate $800,000 to the state’s thirty Child Advocacy Centers. While this funding decision will likely be made later in the budget development process, it’s worth noting the bill has good bipartisan support.