Issue Position: Education

Issue Position

Education

As the parent of young sons, the son of a public school teacher and an educator himself, Senator Hise believes there is no greater investment we can make than in our children's future. That's why he has increased funding for K-12 public schools every year he's been in office. Last year, he helped raise K-12 education spending by almost 5 percent, devoting more than $7.8 billion to our public schools.

And while we are moving in the right direction, the fact remains that 1 in 5 high school students in North Carolina do not graduate, putting us near the bottom in national graduation rankings. Senator Hise supports real changes and improvements to education -- reforms that will help more students graduate and create a more educated workforce, which we all know is the cornerstone of a vibrant economy. That's why he also took steps to provide greater accountability in public schools and make sure every child has a good teacher by:

Adopting an A-F grading system for every public school in North Carolina -- one that incorporates elements that are important to parents, like early grade literacy scores, overall student academic gains, career readiness and college readiness. The new A-F grading system will provide parents with an assessment that is easy to understand and compare across the state.
Committing $10.2 million in funding for North Carolina's first locally-controlled Merit Pay for Teachers program to ensure our students have top quality teachers and our teachers are rewarded for their hard work.
Reducing unnecessary testing to maximize classroom instructional time.
Eliminating the cap on the number of innovative public charter schools. The arbitrary, 100-school cap, imposed by Democrats, kept more than 20,000 families on a waiting list to enroll in a charter school. North Carolina students and families deserve more education options.

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