GREENSBORO, N.C. — Governor Roy Cooper will visit Guilford County Schools Tuesday as the North Carolina General Assembly finalizes the state budget.
Cooper is urging North Carolinians to get involved and advocate for public schools.
He will lead a roundtable discussion at Western Guilford Middle School and will be joined by Superintendent Oakley, elected officials, and educators from counties across the region including Guilford, Forsyth, Burke, and Surry.
The discussion will center around teacher vacancies across North Carolina and funding for public schools.
Guilford County Schools, in a resolution adopted last week, is requesting that the North Carolina General Assembly prioritize public schools by increasing teacher pay at least 18% over the next two years. making significant investments in early childhood education, and stopping the unlimited expansion of the state's private school voucher program. The school district said the program takes money away from public education.
Governor Cooper has said that Republican legislators want to take taxpayer dollars away from public schools and give them to millionaires to send their kids to private schools.
“Education and business leaders from rural and urban areas are continuing to urge legislators to make real investments in public education,” Cooper said.
Republican lawmakers argue that this is about students and parents deciding if they want to send their children to private schools and that it should be available to everyone.
"Private school is not for everyone therefore, we know public school is not for everyone, charter school is not for everyone but given the choice in the opportunity, it’s not right to give the opportunity to just the elite. Everyone needs to have that opportunity and that’s what we are trying to do," NC State Senator Steve Jarvis said.
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