Senator Richard Burr: Giving our children a better future


As North Carolina’s children return to school, it’s a good time to remember the importance of making sure our public school students get a quality education. Our children are the future of North Carolina, and they represent the best of us. I am proud to be an avid defender of North Carolina students in the Senate.

Last December, the Senate passed, and the president signed into law, the bipartisan Every Student Succeeds Act – legislation to fix No Child Left Behind and restore control of K-12 education back to those closest to our children: parents, teachers, principals and local school boards. The Senate’s education committee, of which I’m a member, worked tirelessly on drafting this law, which affirms that the best way to achieve higher standards and better learning is through classrooms and communities, not Washington, D.C. This law also ended the controversial Common Core mandate.

As a part of my commitment to defending North Carolina students, I was proud to offer an amendment to fix a long-standing inequality in education funding that has shortchanged North Carolina’s teachers, schools and low-income students for over 15 years.

In fact, my amendment has added $24 million in yearly education funding for North Carolina. Low-income students in North Carolina stand to see a significant increase of 47 percent in education funding. We are now directing that funding into the communities that need it the most.

The bottom line: My amendment means 500 additional teachers for the state of North Carolina – an average of five more teachers per county in our state.

We have made great strides this Congress to deliver control of K-12 education back to local communities, while making sure limited federal education funding is going to the communities that need it the most. But making sure that our children are getting the best education possible is going to be an ongoing fight for North Carolina families in Washington. I’m pledging to continue fighting for North Carolina’s schools, teachers and students, because a brighter future for North Carolina students means a brighter future for North Carolina.

Image Information: Senator Richard Burr