This week, the Senate passed historic legislation that puts an end to the Common Core mandate. The Every Student Succeeds Act liberates NC kids from the mandates of Common Core and the US Department of Education by giving the power to make decisions about a child’s education back to local communities.
I fought hard for an important provision in the bill that will bring equity back to how federal education dollars are allocated. For too long, North Carolina has been given a raw deal in comparison to other states.
Washington has been distributing education funding based on old population data that does not take NC’s growth into account. My amendment updates the formula, making sure that funding goes to kids where they are today. The provision will bring an additional $24 million per year in funding to the poorest children in North Carolina. Congress has the obligation to properly fund schools that need this funding the most.
Local education officials have said that the increase in funding will give them more flexibility to hire and train teacher assistants. And now that the Common Core mandate is repealed, those new teacher assistants will have the freedom to make decisions based on the needs of the children, not Washington mandates.