In the landmark Leandro school funding case, the state Supreme Court found that every public school classroom in North Carolina should have a competent, certified, well-trained teacher.
It’s well known that the state falls short of that standard. What is not so well known is how far short it’s falling.
A new N.C. Board of Education report – the 2023-24 State of the Teaching Profession in North Carolina – shows that while the teacher vacancy rate has dropped in the last year, the number of traditionally trained and licensed teachers is also falling. A Department of Public Instruction news release on the report said, “The number of new teachers entering classrooms under alternative licensure routes has decreased since last year but still makes up nearly half of all new educators in the state.”…