Another wave of book bans is making its way across public schools in North Carolina. Many of these book challenges are being prompted by far-right education groups.
North Carolina Republicans are once again pushing for their newly elected Republican-majority high court to reconsider a decision: Leandro, the state’s long-running education case.
Republicans have introduced a bill that would strip away the governor’s ability to appoint State Board of Education members and fill vacancies on the Council of State and in the court.
“North Carolina’s teacher shortage is the predictable result of the General Assembly’s 12-year crusade against teachers,” wrote Kris Nordstrom, a senior policy analyst in the North Carolina Justice Center’s Education & Law Project.
Democrats in the state House and Senate have come together to craft a pair of bills aimed at protecting the rights of students and parents.
Although the shortage of special education teachers isn’t new, the need couldn’t be any more urgent.
According to the US Census Bureau, the free school lunch program helped millions of children throughout the pandemic, with child poverty going down by 46% in 2021 alone.
Instead of working to fund NC’s K-12 schools, which are the least funded in the U.S., Sen. Michael Lee is more concerned with targeting LGBTQ+ kids by following in the far-right footsteps of states like Florida.
Currently, transgender high school students have to undergo a lengthy process under the state’s high-school athletic association policy.
“My professional opinion as a licensed clinical psychologist is that this bill will make our children less safe,” said Dr. Sarah Wilson, an assistant professor at the Duke University School of Medicine.