North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction Mark Johnson announced February 19 at an invite-only conference his “NC2030” education plan to improve learning and promote teaching as a career.
The list of plans includes marketing for and recruiting new teachers into the workforce, increasing teacher wages by five percent, reducing testing in favor of individual assessments and improving multiple different education-associated programs such as “Read to Achieve” and North Carolina Teaching Fellows.
The ultimate goal, Johnson said, is to “ensure North Carolina’s public schools are the best place to learn and teach by 2030.”
Information about the plan is limited amongst North Carolina educators, but to those who know of NC2030, the idea is well received.
“The parts of the plan that I read I thought sounded promising. I think eliminating high-stakes testing and turning a lot of education decisions over to the local school districts are good places to start,” history teacher Pat Roeber said.
Promises of better pay and attracting new teachers also have some veteran teachers excited for the new idea.
“I’ve lived through a period where for seven or eight years we’ve gotten no raise whatsoever, and now [Johnson] is proposing a five percent raise,” history teacher Bill Melega said. “It helps for recruitment, because so many teachers have left the job or even the state.”
Johnson plans to submit the education plan to the North Carolina Board of Education for approval before implementing the ideas into North Carolina public schools.
