HAMPTON DELLINGER UNVEILS K-12 ED PLAN
“Let’s offer pre-school for 3-year-olds, raise the dropout age to 18, offer parents electronic student evaluations, expand Drivers’ Ed to Transit Ed, build LEED-certified schools, and make NC the #1 State for Teaching” Lt. Gov. Candidate Says
Another Major Dellinger/Dalton Difference: Education Funding

(Raleigh) Hampton Dellinger, Democratic candidate for Lieutenant Governor, released an education plan today designed to make sure that North Carolina is a top state not just for business, but for students, parents, and teachers as well.

“I am a proud graduate of our public schools and, as Lt. Governor, I will work to make North Carolina’s ‘education climate’ just as good as its business climate,” said Dellinger.

Dellinger’s plan emphasizes the need for basic reforms such as offering learning environments for three-year olds, raising the dropout age to 18, and banning corporal punishment.  His proposals also embrace new ideas and technologies -- such as locally-grown school foods, electronic “parent portals,” and Transit Ed instead of Drivers’ Ed -- to make students healthier and schools “greener.”

In addition, Dellinger’s education proposals emphasize the need to enhance the professional status of teachers by providing salaries above the national average, health and other benefits competitive with the private sector, meaningful instructional planning time, and support from first-rate administrators. 

“I strongly support the idea that teaching is the profession that creates all others.  If North Carolina is to be a 21st-century leader in workforce preparedness and civic engagement, we must support the professionals who lead our K-12 classrooms,” Dellinger said.

Dellinger today also contrasted his support for education even in tough budget times with state Senator Walter Dalton’s record.  (For details about the difference between Hampton Dellinger and Walter Dalton on education funding issues, click here.)  As a top official in the Governor’s office, Dellinger assisted Gov. Easley’s successful efforts to better fund education and, in 2002, Dellinger prepared two critical pro-education Executive Orders that allowed new teachers to be hired and schools to open smoothly despite the legislature’s inability to pass a budget.

“When it comes to major policy matters, including education funding, Mr. Dalton and I disagree.  In 2001, Mr. Dalton was one of the leading legislators willing to accept cuts in the state’s education budget, reductions that would have run in the hundreds of millions of dollars.  And time and again, my opponent has backed proposals -- from putting governments at risk of owing millions of dollars to billboard sign owners to a major new tax giveaway for homebuilders to a tax cut for the richest North Carolinians -- that would reduce local and state governments’ financial resources. The government revenues lost if the proposals Mr. Dalton has backed are enacted could instead go to supporting education and other vital public services. I disagree with my opponent’s position on these issues because I know we need to be adding resources for education, not taking them away,” Dellinger said.

Dellinger’s proposals to improve primary and secondary education in North Carolina are set forth below.  The plan’s proposals include:

• Expand More at Four so that at-risk and other three-year olds can attend high-quality pre-kindergarten programs if their parents choose.

• Raise the compulsory school attendance age (the “dropout age”) to 18.

• Raise teacher salaries above the national average, and provide health care and benefit options comparable to the private sector.

• Expand the number of elementary schools with multi-age classrooms.

• Establish easy-to-use electronic “parent portals” so parents can access information about their children’s school attendance and academic progress in real-time. 

• Insist that individualized settings for all students with a disability be maintained and all protections under federal law be afforded.

• Expand Drivers’ Ed to “Transit Ed” so students learn not only the rules of the road but also the options for and benefits of mass transit and other mobility means.

• Support the work of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Testing and Accountability so that the focus is on preparing students for post-secondary education, citizenship, and work, not just end-of-year tests.

• Take steps to make more North Carolina schools LEED-certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) by incorporating sustainability features into building designs and renovations.

• Ban corporal punishment in schools.

EDUCATION PROPOSALS FOR NORTH CAROLINA
Hampton Dellinger
Democrat for Lieutenant Governor

January 2008

• We must make sure every student receives a top-flight education from age three to 18.
  • To meet the promise of a high quality education for all, we should expand More at Four -- one of only two pre-kindergarten programs in the nation to meet all ten benchmarks outlined by the National Institute for Early Education Research -- to include at-risk three-year-olds.
• We should increase the age of compulsory attendance to 18 so that we eliminate the suggestion that a student can have any hope of succeeding in today’s competitive, global economy with an education that ends at 16. 

The need to raise the dropout age beyond 16 is made even more urgent by the General Assembly’s decision to move the kindergarten eligibility cut-off date up to August 31st from October 16th.  As a result of that decision, more than 15,000 students each year will be eligible to drop out a grade earlier.

• School administrators should work to make sure our schools remain diverse to the fullest extent possible in light of the limits in school assignment decisions recently imposed by the U.S. Supreme Court.
• School administrators must also ensure that individualized settings for all students with a disability are provided and all protections under federal law are afforded. The graduation rate for students with disabilities is less than 50%.  State and local leaders must be committed to seeing this rate increase dramatically.  We need strict enforcement by the local school districts and the Department of Public Instruction of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) of 2004 and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act to identify, plan and ensure that all students with disabilities receive a free and appropriate education.  We also need more effective transition services which promote movement from school to post-school activities, including postsecondary education, vocational training, integrated employment (including supported employment), continuing and adult education, adult services, independent living, and community participation.

• We should initiate a statewide pilot program whereby parents can choose to place their children in multi-age classrooms from pre-school through 3rd grade in which students in up to three different grades are taught together.  This program would be voluntary for teachers as well.

• Lottery supporters promised that lottery proceeds would be used to supplement educational spending, not supplant it. This condition always must be honored. Ensuring that lottery proceeds are used to increase education funding should be a top priority, and should be subject to strict oversight at all times

• We need a renewed commitment to the constitutional requirement that higher education “as far as practicable, be … free of expense” so that every high school graduate who wants to attend college has an affordable opportunity to do so.

• Parents must play active roles in their children’s education, and should receive the information required to do so in convenient, user-friendly ways.

• We should have electronic parent portals, which would give parents access to information about their children’s school attendance and academic progress in real-time. 
• Great things happen in classrooms only when they are led by great teachers, and we must continue to improve working conditions so that North Carolina is the best place in the country to teach.
• We must live up to the promise that each teacher receive at least five hours of instructional planning time each week and a daily duty-free lunch period.

• We should increase opportunities for professional development for teachers, administrators, and other school employees.

• Salaries for teachers should be higher than the national average.

• Health care and other educator benefits should be comparable to those in the private sector.

• We should expand the North Carolina Teacher Cadet program to encourage our top students to consider a career in teaching.

• Every school should have an elected, effective, and empowered School Improvement Team (SIT).

• Students must be given the skills necessary to succeed in a 21st-century global economy.

• Every high school graduate should be technologically literate, meaning they should have experience with and a basic understanding of computers.  High school students should have the ability to check out laptops for evening or weekend work, with restrictions and tracking software to make sure that those laptops are used appropriately.

• North Carolina must continue to support and expand the Learn and Earn program and the North Carolina Community College System’s Virtual Learning Community.

• All schools should have a virtual learning plan in case of a natural disaster or other emergency that prevents students from attending school for any extended period of time.

• I am concerned by the seeming ever-increasing reliance on end-of-year testing and support the work of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Testing and Accountability.  The focus must be on preparing students for post-secondary education, citizenship, and work, not just end-of-year tests.

Preparing graduates for adult life should include increased focus on financial literacy. High school graduates should be able to manage their personal finances, including balancing checkbooks and understanding mortgages.

• Schools should be healthy and safe environments where children learn the importance of and ways to protect their own health and the health of the environment.

• Expand Drivers’ Ed to a more comprehensive “Transit Ed,” in which students learn not only the rules of the road but also the options for and benefits of public transportation and of walking or biking to their destination. 

To complement the program, state and local officials should join in an effort to offer Transit Licenses that would allow North Carolinians to carry a single card that licenses the individual to operate a motor vehicle AND allows for payment when using local and state-operated mass transit systems.

• Schools can take simple steps to protect the environment and teach values to our students while reducing costs at the same time.  Orange County schools, for example, saved close to $1 million through easy conservation methods.  Similarly, retrofitting our school buses can cut tailpipe emissions by 85 percent, and an eventual move to hybrid buses can cut fuel costs by 70 percent or more.

• We should ask parents to set a good example by taking steps to improve air quality such as turning off the car while waiting to pick their children up after school.

• We should take steps to make North Carolina schools LEED-certified. For example, waterless urinals -- in use at Statesville’s Third Creek Elementary -- save more than three gallons of water per use.

• We should increase state aid to ensure that healthy school lunches are being served, and those lunches should be made with locally grown and organic foods wherever feasible.  Students should learn about the importance of fitness and a healthy diet.  Parents should contribute by offering nutritious options and the opportunity for exercise outside of school.

• The state should match the recent donation from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation designed to help schools fight obesity.

• Corporal punishment in schools should be banned.

• Every school should have access to a School Resource Officer, two-way communication between classrooms and the main office, and a plan for immediately communicating emergency information to parents.

• We should continue to experiment with programs that give students a role in their own safety, such as Elizabeth City Northeastern High School’s Teen Court and “Community of Caring” programs.

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