NC legislators get an education visiting schools to see what’s happening firsthand

State Rep. Donna White had a secret to share Monday with a class of first-grade students at Riverwood Elementary School in Clayton.

White told the class she prefers reading to children instead of other lawmakers “because sometimes big boys and big girls are not easy to read to.” White was among 66 lawmakers who signed up for Monday’s inaugural “Bring Your Legislator To School Day” co-sponsored by the Public School Forum of North Carolina and members of the NC Teacher of the Year and Principal of the Year Network.

White has prior firsthand experience because the Johnston County Republican served on the school board for 12 years.

“Its just an opportunity to be here, be involved and to know what the needs are and see what they are doing great, and they’re doing a lot of great things,” White said in an interview.

Experience day-to-day realities of schools

Organizers of Bring Your Legislator to School Day say it’s meant to help lawmakers experience the day-to-day reality of North Carolina’s elementary and secondary schools and to gain a better understanding of what works well for students and educators, and the challenges they face.

“We talk about our civic responsibilities and being global citizens,” said Jane Armbruster, principal of Providence Spring Elementary in Charlotte. “So students understand the role of a lawmaker. We hope the lawmakers see the realities of public education and the challenges we have.”

Invitations were extended to all 170 state lawmakers. The event was bipartisan, but 40 of the 66 lawmakers who registered were Democrats.

How much money for public schools?

Monday’s statewide event comes amid a heated debate about how and how much state leaders should fund education and public schools.

State Senate GOP leaders are releasing Monday their budget plan for the next two years. They’ll negotiate with the House GOP, which approved its own budget plan that includes increases in education funding, including a 10.2% average raise for teachers over the next two years.

White noted that education spending represents 59% of the state budget.

“I’m not sure that money is the answer to everything,” White said. “I think there’s a lot of collaboration that needs to be taken.

“We’ve got great teachers and we’ve got principals and they need to be able to do that and not feel like they’ve got to be pressured into taking another leadership role like the central office.”

At the same time, GOP lawmakers are planning to pass legislation this year that would allow any North Carolina family, regardless of income, to get state funding to help cover the cost of attending a K-12 private school.

Democratic lawmakers have urged the GOP majority to fully support the Leandro plan, which would help fund programs to try to provide every child with a sound, basic education. The plan is up in the air after the new Republican majority on the state Supreme Court blocked an order transferring hundreds of millions of dollars into public schools.

Students’ fears

At Providence Spring, Rep. Laura Budd, a Mecklenburg County Democrat, listened Monday to a group of students talk about their fears of moving on to middle school.

“I hear you — it is scary when your world opens up and gets bigger,” said Budd, mom to three teens. “When it happens to me I make new friends, but I make sure and keep my old friends.”

Providence Spring’s chorus sang for Budd during lunch, and then Budd was introduced to a snapshot of the school, including an outdoor classroom school officials created.

“I love the fact we can take them on a field trip without putting them on a bus,” Budd said of the outdoor classroom.

Mikayla Beverly, a fourth-grade student at Providence Spring, was part of a group that went to Raleigh earlier this year to watch lawmakers do their job.

“Now it’s good that they can come to see our school,” Mikayla, 9, said. “They can see that we’re a great school, we have fun and have strong friendships.”

‘How great our school systems are’

At Riverwood Elementary in Johnston County, White toured first-grade classrooms to see how they’re using phonics to teach reading. She read the book “Three Hens And a Peacock” to one class.

White also toured two special-education classrooms to talk with staff and give hugs to the students.

”I just feel like they’re special human beings on this Earth and they’re here for a very special purpose,” White said of the special-needs students.

As White prepared to leave, school and district staff encouraged her to make the case to her fellow lawmakers for supporting public schools.

“What I hope comes out of it is she goes back and talks with her colleagues, especially ones that are on different education committees, and shares with them and stresses to them how great our school systems are and how hard are staff and students are working on a daily basis and how much they are learning,” Leigh White, the principal of Riverwood Elementary, said in an interview.