Governor Stein’s announcement on Tuesday that he and legislative leaders Senator Phil Berger and Rep. Destin Hall were forming a Blue Ribbon Commission on Public Education was a big surprise to everyone who has been following public education in the state.
Another study group? We’ve had so many already. Why spend more time researching and talking about what we know needs to be done? Professional educational research organizations have provided extensive recommendations on strategies to strengthen public schools. The State courts and the State legislature have commissioned multiple studies that have shown the severe funding and staffing needs of our public schools. They have all pointed out the need for better funding and support for educators to provide them with the tools they need to ensure student success.
That is the huge elephant in the room—state lawmakers’ refusal to adequately fund public education. When North Carolina is dead last in the nation in public education funding effort, is beating only one state (Idaho) in cost-adjusted funding level, and ranks 43rd in the nation in teacher pay, it’s clear that the starvation diet legislators have imposed on public schools needs to end. Another study commission is not needed to see the results of legislative inaction.
In announcing the new commission, Governor Stein said it represents “a bipartisan commitment and an opportunity to make North Carolina’s public schools the best in the nation.” Hall added that the commission members will “take an honest look at what’s working and what isn’t in our public schools. I look forward to collaborating with them to strengthen schools across our state.”
An honest look at North Carolina’s public schools? That’s been done. Prior commissions, special committees, universities, nonprofits and more have tackled the issue. Their efforts yielded reports with well-researched recommendations that haven’t been followed. In fact, the proven research on how to recruit and retain teachers, the value of having enough nurses, social workers, and school psychologists in every school, the value of a universal pre-K program, and the positive impact of feeding hungry students breakfast, to name just a few policy recommendations, all remain unfunded.
What will be new about this new “blue ribbon” effort? And why is the commission being formed by two legislative leaders who persistently advocate policies that damage and degrade public education and educators while refusing to fund Leandro or even pass a state budget?
In 2024, the House Select Committee on Education Reform issued a report after several months of meetings. Recommendations repeated findings from earlier reports: find ways to improve teacher pay, keep advanced teaching roles and student access to technology, invest in early learning and instructional support, reform the A-F grading system, and ensure that schools have quality principals and sufficient counselors.
In 2022, the House Select Committee on an Education System for North Carolina’s Future issued its report in December after spending the year traveling the state and gathering information. The report’s six major findings included ensuring that students were receiving high-quality instruction relevant to college and careers in a safe environment, increasing educator pay and professional development opportunities, revising the student assessment system, and changing the school calendar law. As we have seen, little to no legislative action resulted from the committee’s efforts.
In 2021, the Leandro Comprehensive Remedial Plan provided guidance and dollar amounts needed to ensure that the state meets its constitutional obligation to provide a free, sound basic education for all students. Increasing teacher and principal pay (along with bolstering professional development), investing in students’ safety and mental health, and ensuring students have access to quality early childhood education were key parts of the plan.
But even a 2022 NC Supreme Court order to fund the Leandro plan failed to get legislative leaders on board. Senator Berger (co-sponsor of the new Blue Ribbon Commission) is one of the lawmakers fighting the 2022 Leandro ruling. He refuses to release the court-ordered funds to districts or pass a state budget this year.
Just last year, Superintendent of Public Instruction Mo Green and the State Board of Education released a detailed plan to make North Carolina’s schools the best in the nation by 2030: Achieving Educational Excellence 2025 – 2030 Strategic Plan for North Carolina Public Schools The plan came after months of listening tours and meetings with stakeholders. The Blue Ribbon Committee could simplify their job by simply summarizing the strategic plan and urging lawmakers to FUND it.
Adding to the rich trove of information on what’s needed to improve our schools is NCAE’s February 2026 white paper, Public Schools, Public Good: What North Carolina Can Achieve When We Fully Invest In Our Children. It highlights what we all know to be true: “When schools are adequately funded, communities are better positioned to thrive. When schools are stretched thin, the effects ripple outward, impacting families, local economies, and long-term opportunity.”
North Carolinians and lawmakers already know what our public education system needs—a state budget that prioritizes our public schools, students, and families. We need state policies that do not undermine the teaching profession and do not neglect children who are the most vulnerable. We need policies that do not eliminate the corporate tax rate while putting over a BILLION dollars into private schools that are completely unaccountable to the public.
Perhaps this announcement would have been better received if it were titled: A Blue Ribbon Committee to FUND Public Education! NC teachers and public school students have spent years on a starvation diet at the hands of our legislative leaders while state dollars continue to flow unchecked to private schools that enact any policy they choose and spend our tax dollars any way they want as we “study once again” how to make public schools better.
Is this really the “action” our public schools need?