The grim future of K-12 education in North Carolina after Leandro

The liquidation of the would-be haymaker began last week when the state Supreme Court reheard arguments in the 30-year-old Leandro school funding case. The real attack is likely to occur in the coming weeks, and unless there is a surprising and unexpected turnaround in the attitudes and philosophies of the conservative Republican justices, the court will reverse its previous decisions and It will be decided that there is no authority to do so. Directs Congress to adequately fund the state's K-12 schools.

When and if this decision is handed down, it will mark a seminal moment in the state's history, both for its constitution and its most important public institution.

The negative impact on the Constitution and the rights of North Carolinians would be significant. If the court finds that the General Assembly does not have the authority to order the General Assembly to appropriate funds to provide a constitutionally adequate education system, it would lead to violations of all kinds of rights that depend on public spending.

After all, if courts can't require Congress to fund the state's struggling schools, how can it mandate funding for things like child protective services and adequate jail space in cash-strapped counties? And if courts lack the fundamental powers to ensure that such expenditures are properly and equitably distributed, that society can quickly take on a very different and darker look. It will be charged.

But the most direct and obvious impact of Leandro's anticipated watering down will occur in the state's K-12 schools. For three decades, school districts in the state's low-income counties have held out hope that the Leandro case would finally ensure a first-class, fully segregated public education system in all 100 counties in the state. I have continued.

But now, if 30 years of litigation proves to be in vain and that hope is dashed, not only is there no fate for the struggling school district and its students, but conservative lawmakers are also pushing for an even more ambitious overhaul. It will give you more courage to pursue it. The state's education system.

And sadly, it doesn't take much imagination to imagine what that would be like.

As recent General Assembly actions have made readily apparent, post-Leandro education in North Carolina will be a two-tier structure similar to that encountered in many developing countries.

Tier 1 includes elite schools, mostly private or semi-private, that cater to children from wealthy families and a few lucky or well-connected high achievers from the rest of society. These schools are overwhelmingly white, mostly Christian in orientation, and, although heavily subsidized by taxpayer-funded vouchers, are prohibitively expensive for most families.

Smaller adjuncts to Tier 1 (useful for providing a deceptive cloak of respectability and diversity) include more affordable vouchers for lower-wealth students, who are overwhelmingly students of color; Several schools and charter schools will be established. Some work fine. Most will struggle.

And what about Tier 2? That would be reserved for everyone else, the schools that the state funds at some of the lowest rates in the country. Some relatively wealthy counties, as they are now, will be fine, at least in the short term. But the situation will only get worse over time, as the disruptive trends that emerged during the pandemic continue to wreak havoc. There is a chronic shortage of quality teachers, principals, administrators, nurses, counselors, custodians, social workers, cafeteria workers, and buses. driver.

Here is the damage that will be caused by the sustained drumbeat of manufactured conservative social warfare attacks, and the discord and confusion this will cause among school boards, parent volunteers, and school teachers. Add in the financial losses caused, and the picture gets even murkier. The combination of systemic underinvestment in school facilities and academic institutions, and the end of society-wide efforts to integrate, will turn the clock back even further.

As a result, 10 to 20 percent of North Carolina's population is now better off than ever before, while nearly all the rest are part of a growing underclass living behind increasingly high walls. is incorporated into.

Given all this, it is no wonder that the American right continues to strengthen its embrace of authoritarianism as a means of governing such a deeply divided and stratified society.