Advocacy
Every day in Wake County, a new kindergarten class is born. With nearly 160,000 public school students in Wake County alone, the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) is larger than the entire public school systems of eight U.S. states.
In our rapidly growing county – home to the state capital, Research Triangle Park, and diverse communities – state-level advocacy is not enough. Wake County requires a local leader to speak up for our unique needs.
WakeEd Partnership exists to ensure an advocate for all WCPSS teachers sees the full scope of education in our county and works to help state and local elected officials make decisions that lead to positive educational outcomes.
Press Release:
New Report Finds Wake County Public School System Has Major Impact on Local Economy
Public Policy Agenda
WakeEd Partnership is the business champion for public education in Wake County. These public policy priorities have been identified through dialogue with elected officials, business leaders, educators, nonprofit leaders, and parents. WakeEd encourages state and local policymakers to consider adopting these positions.
Strong Schools in Every Community
- Provide adequate state and local public education funding which ensures every school has the proper staff, supplies, and support to produce high-achieving students from pre-kindergarten through high school graduation.
- Formulate equitable school performance reports which are simple but comprehensive, tools for demonstrating effectiveness and areas for growth.
- Address performance inequities among schools by giving local education authorities the flexibility to innovate at the district and school building levels.
Excellent Educators in Every School
- Strengthen the career pipeline by reducing impediments to licensure, developing educational leaders, and providing competitive compensation throughout the professional continuum.
- Invest in professional development programs which build capacity of educators to adapt to emerging best practices and dynamic teaching methods.
- Create advanced teaching roles which inspire teachers to lead within their school communities by adopting structures of advanced responsibility.
Successful Students in Every Classroom
- Ensure equal access for students to an education which includes arts, sciences, engineering, technology, mathematics, and literature, which prepares students for college, career, and civic participation.
- Promote literacy initiatives which ensure all students will read proficiently by the end of third grade and beyond.
- Diversify student evaluation to include multiple measurement methods which capture the full growth of students each school year.
Updated January 2019
2019-2020 Legislative Priorities
These Legislative Priorities have been identified through dialogue with elected officials, business leaders, educators, nonprofit leaders, and parents. They support our work from pre-kindergarten through high school graduation.
Strong Schools in Every Community
- Adequate funding for school operations
- Restore flexibility to allotment categories
- Provide funding to meet K-3 class size requirements
- Modify the state school calendar law
- Align high schools to the post-secondary calendar
- Eliminate statutory school year end date
- Adjust school grading formula
- Remove F grade
- Properly weight achievement and growth
Excellent Educators in Every School
- Funding for professional development
- Invest in programs which improve educators’ abilities to innovate instruction
- Teacher pay raise
- Reach national average
- Restore Master’s pay and annual step increases on all salary schedules
- Expand, fund, and make permanent the Advanced Teaching Roles legislation
- Principals pay raise and salary schedule enhancements
- Provide incentives for the best principals to work at low performing schools
- Appropriate pay for support staff
- Instructional assistants, bus drivers, child nutrition staff, and clerical staff
Successful Students in Every Classroom
- Promote universal literacy
- Embed early literacy practices to improve grade-level reading proficiency
- Fund local programs which show promise
- Significantly and permanently increase funding for student support services
- School-based social workers, counselors, psychologists, and nurses
- Restore funding for learning materials such as textbooks and digital resources
- Ensure local school district choice in which materials to purchase
- Revise testing requirements
- Utilize flexibility of ESSA to modify NC’s state testing requirements
Updated January 2019
In Context
WakeEd Partnership’s In Context newsletter is a monthly deep-dive into important education issues impacting Wake County Public Schools. Read In Context
Econonimst: WCPSS Provides Significant Economic Impact
A new report titled, “The Economic Impact the Wake County Public School System” released by WakeEd Partnership and Wake County Public School System, in collaboration with NC State University, assesses the value-add of the state’s largest school district to its region, and the results are good for taxpayers and WCPSS graduates alike.
How COVID-19 has exacerbated existing public school needs
Returning to in-person instruction for WCPSS students and staff is the most difficult policy decision the school board has made in many years, as shown in the multiple angst-fraught discussions the board held recently. That said, the goal has always been to get...
WCPSS Response to COVID-19 An Example of Masterful Leadership
The response by Wake County Public School System to the COVID-19 pandemic is a masterclass in leadership by example in using the 4 C’s: Collaboration, Communication, Critical Thinking and Creativity.
WakeEdge
WakeEd Partnership’s Wake Edge alerts keep you informed about breaking news impacting Wake County Public Schools. Read WakeEdge
The post-pandemic three R’s of education: Recover, restore, and rebuild
Amid all the discussions about getting kids back into the classrooms there has been little focus of what schools will look like next fall and what students will need to recover. However, throughout the COVID-19 ordeal, there has been plenty of discussion about learning loss, lack of equity, and the social and emotional health of students.
WakeEd Board of Directors: Schools need support and flexibility during COVID-19
Earlier this week, the WakeEd Board of Directors sent a letter to all members of the NC House and Senate who represent Wake County, and to members of the House Select Committee on COVID-19's working group on education. The letter encourages the continuation of pay and...
Investing in Education is A Choice, Not An Invoice
The 25-year lawsuit to improve education funding in North Carolina reached a major milestone last week and reactions ranged from “I told you so.” to “How will we pay for it all?”
WakeEd Partnership
3101 Industrial Drive, Suite 100
Raleigh, NC 27609 | (919) 821-7609
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WakeEd Partnership
3101 Industrial Drive, Suite 100
Raleigh, NC 27609 | (919) 821-7609