Perdue's consistent support for education

Without getting into the back-and-forth, I think it's significant that the people who live their lives in the education field have publicly announced their gratitude for her support. Would they say those things so publicly if they weren't aware of Perdue's whole record over almost 25 years?

Maybe they take Perdue's record and her specific legislative votes, one by one, in the context of the time they were cast. I remember what the state budgets were like in the early 1990s, and I remember that the decisions made then were made by a lot of people, not just one or two. The record seems to show, in fact, that other current statewide officeholders voted for the same budget she supported in 1993.

So here's what I did, and it wasn't hard. At the library this morning, I plugged into the online archives of some newspapers and in less than half an hour, I found these notes.

Way back on January 10, 2001, Claudia Madeley wrote in the Fayetteville Observer ("Perdue: School money lacking"),

On her second day in office, Perdue was speaking at a conference for the state School Boards Association, the Public Schools of North Carolina, the State Board of Education and the Department of Public Instruction. The conference ended Tuesday.

The economy is thriving, the unemployment rate is low but only 23 percent of residents have four-year college degrees. “That is unacceptable,” she said.

“The only way and the best way to grow our economy is education ... To maintain our prosperity, we must demand more from education. That translates into needing more money,” Perdue said.
...
Other challenges include the method of financing schools, preparing 4-year-olds for preschool, the academic achievement gap among the races, charter schools, and non-English speaking students. “Our future depends on change in the early years of the 21st century,” said Perdue .

There is a need for collaboration and a sharing of resources among the systems that serve kindergarten to 12th grades, the community colleges and the universities, she said.

In the April 30, 2006, edition of the Asheville Citizen-Times, Kerra Bolton published a question-and-answer session she held with Perdue while she served as acting governor, when Governor Easley was in Europe. The article was titled, "Perdue: Education and economy are key priorities."

QUESTION: What does the lieutenant governor do?

ANSWER: The lieutenant governor is the only elected official to have both executive and legislative powers. As lieutenant governor, I preside over the state Senate as its president. In my role on the State Board of Education, I have worked on helping kids in the classroom and paying teachers what they deserve.
...
Q: How have you been able to put your own stamp on that office?

A: ...We have focused on a 21st century education, especially the development and launch of North Carolina's first virtual high school.
...
Q: What are your three areas of public policy interest and how will they improve the lives of North Carolinians?

A: Education has been and will always be my top interest. We must have a qualified teacher in every classroom and pay them as professionals. It's the most important job in the world. And we have to give kids a first-class education regardless of where they come from or how much their family makes.

Last October 2, 2007, Brenda Buchanon wrote in the Sampson Independent,

Two days after securing the endorsement of the state's top teachers lobby, the former schoolteacher also told the more than 500 in attendance that she was ''committed to paying teachers a professional salary worthy of the work they do.'' She promised to push for ''an ironclad promise '' that students who earn good grades and stay out of trouble can graduate from college without financial hardship.

And week before last, James Remoser of the Winston-Salem Journal covered a education forum and wrote about it on March 13.

In it, he quoted the vice president of the state's education association saying that education leaders have scheduled regular meetings with Perdue and Treasurer Richard Moore, because both of them serve on the State Board of Education.

The vice president, Sheri Strickland, said that for years, her association has scheduled monthly appointments with both Moore and Perdue to discuss the agenda for the monthly meeting of the State Board of Education. Perdue has almost always attended those meetings in person. "We just felt that that was a tremendous kind of promise that she made to us and held to that," she said.

But it was more interesting to read Strickland's other comments.

Remoser pointed out, again, that Perdue's positions include "to put more good teachers in schools and to make college more accessible, so students know that if they stay in school, they will be able to continue into higher education."

Notice that those reports came from newspapers in Fayetteville, Clinton, Asheville and Winston-Salem -- the east, the west, and the center of the state. From my perspective, what I found in their coverage is consistency: consistent support from Perdue for education -- and particularly helping young people go to college -- and consistent effort on her part to keep education a high priority.

So when ads run on television about Perdue's support for education, I hope they'll make these points as loudly as any other. Surely that's not too much to ask of all of our state leaders.