Here are some quick North Carolina Education updates you might have missed.
Leandro update, more money thrown at Read To Achieve, a big resignation at the State Board of Education and a Common Core peddler gets an award.

Education-related Legislative updates can be accessed HERE.

Leandro Drags On

The judge in the Leandro case has ruled that the North Carolina State Board of Education has to continue as a defendant in the case.

• NC is still not providing many children a sound basic education, judge says
• Judge refuses State Board’s request to be let out of Leandro lawsuit (has the ruling document included)

FYI, Folks –

More Money Dumped Into Read To Achieve

NC State Superintendent of Schools, Mark Johnson, sent out a press release regarding the release of Read to Achieve Funds for K-3 Teachers.

According to a press release sent out last week, NC DPI will be giving out close to $5 million for school districts and charter schools to be used for “additional K-3 literacy support. Every district and charter school with early elementary grades will receive $200 for each K-3 reading teacher to purchase literacy materials.”

The press release says the funds can be used for:

• Books to send home with students to support and encourage reading over the summer
• Books for classrooms
• Online subscriptions for digital or downloadable books and instructional materials
• Hands-on resources for individual students, small groups, or work-stations – especially materials to support students at risk of being reading retained
• Equipment, instructional tools, and supplies to aid teachers in whole class, small group, or individual instruction

I’ve got my own issues with Read To Achieve — basically, I think it’s a poorly implemented, broken version of a failed Jeb Bush policy. Add Read To Achieve to Common Core and you have a recipe for flunking half the kids in the 3rd grade.

Big Resignation at State Board of Education

Late on Friday, a press release went out announcing that Vice Chair Buddy Collins was resigning from the State Board of Education.

I can’t say this actually surprises me. I’m actually surprised it didn’t happen sooner.

With Collins gone, expect this board to heave to the far Left and June Atkinson’s puppet (Cobey) will now go totally unchallenged.

Collins is not leaving public service as he has announced his intention to run for the Forsyth Board of County Commissioners.  Education NC has a copy of Collins’ letter.

Common Core Peddler Gets An Award from Common Core Cheerleaders

“Ann Goodnight to Receive Public School Forum of North Carolina’s Annual Education Leadership Award.”  Go read the press release.  When you finish with that, read more about the Public School Forum.

The Goodnights are NC’s version of Bill and Melinda Gates.

The Goodnights, for all their alleged good deeds and intentions, are part of the ‘do as I say, not as I do’ club. Their own sponsored private school, Cary Academy, does not use Common Core.

Reminders:

• SAS’s “Wake Ed Partnership” Rebrands (UPDATED)
• SAS, Big Data and Common Core
• SAS’s Ann Goodnight perpetuates STEM Myth While Bemoaning ‘Skills Gap’.