Access to an equitable and equal education for students in North Carolina public schools has been a prominent dinner table conversation for many families for two and a half decades. The issue extends beyond the face value implications of easy accessibility, venturing into topics concerning teacher salaries, support staff, and most importantly, early childhood education.
Take 2-year-old Elliott Zuckerman, who was on a childcare waiting list before he was even born. Two years and six different teachers later, his mother, Elaine Zuckerman, is only just beginning to understand that she cannot put a band-aid on a broken system.
Zuckerman, along with being a mom, is a part of the North Carolina Early Childhood Education Coalition, an organization that specializes in making childcare more accessible and affordable to families all across the state primarily through more stable funding. Part of their work is advocating for legislation such as House Bill 1079, which would dedicate $800 million over two years to funding public schools across the state, and part of the reason why Zuckerman believes this bill is critical to retaining teachers.
“Childcare teachers in North Carolina make an average of $12 an hour, even though over 60% of them have a degree,” Zuckerman said. “One in five doesn’t have health insurance, 40% rely on some form of public assistance themselves. So we’re talking about a workforce that is really earning poverty level wages. And this is a workforce that is 99% women, and primarily women of color.”
One main problem with the childcare system is how much of it is inaccessible. The average single parent would have to pay 40% of their livable income towards early childhood education, according to Zuckerman. Because of this, childcare centers cannot raise the prices of their services, which leads to lesser facilities and larger class sizes, and then results in a higher teacher turnover due to stress and exhaustion.
“I think then it’s the time where we start to think, ‘How do we change the system, not just fix some of the holes?’” Zuckerman said.
With HB 1079, early childhood care is only the first step in fixing the public education system. According to North Carolina Representative Ricky Hurtado (D-NC), educational programs funded by HB 1079 will rip off the band-aid and dig deep to create better opportunities to help align children on a track to graduating high school.
“Investing in our youngest prepares them for the rest of the education pipeline going through K-12, to college, to career,” Hurtado said.
This fight against disparity in the education system is nothing recent, with the issue dating all the way back to the 1990s with the Leandro v. State of North Carolina case.
“The Leandro case, for those that are familiar with it, is a case that’s been running for over 25 years. And in those 25 years have constantly found that our state of North Carolina is not doing their constitutional duty of providing a sound basic education for every child,” Rep. Hurtado said. “And so all this bill does is rectify that problem in North Carolina and make sure that we as a state, as a legislature, is providing the resources we need to make sure that every child succeeds here in North Carolina.”
Improving the education pipeline would win the battle, but not the war. The true victory, Hurtado says, would be to prepare children for a successful career, and ultimately, a successful adulthood.
“If we are doing our job here in North Carolina, here as lawmakers in the General Assembly, that regardless of where you’re born, what ZIP code you’re in, or what community, whether it’s in eastern or western North Carolina, we need to make sure that we’re building an education system that creates a strong workforce for North Carolina,” Hurtado said.
But a bill cannot pass itself – this is why both politicians and advocacy groups stress the importance of collective work done by local communities in their own backyards.
“I think everybody should be calling their representatives in state government and federal government and local government,” Zuckerman said. “If there’s an issue that matters to you, pick up the phone, send an email, go find them. Go find them at a town hall, go find them when they’re home during breaks.”
According to Zuckerman, working class mothers are some of the least represented people in government. This is not by choice, but because of the exhausting demands of being a parent. Nonetheless, she urges parents to get out and make their voices heard so politicians understand the importance of making education more accessible to all.
“They need to know what those [demands] are, and that means telling them, using your own voice, sharing your own story. That is the most effective way to communicate with legislators,” Zuckerman said. “You don’t have to be an expert on the subject, you just need to be an expert on your own family, and what’s happening in your household or in your community. But all of those things matter.”
With midterms on the horizon, Hurtado said, it is essential to keep up these conversations. Whether it be at the next town hall meeting or the dinner table, he urged people to keep talking about inequitable access to education, to keep advocating for those voices who cannot be heard, so children can be set up for success in the future.
Olivia Frey was born and raised in Chicago and attends Niles North High School in Skokie, Illinois. As editor-in-chief of the school’s yearbook, she directed and organized the theme, supervised writing and production, and also supported marketing efforts. In addition, Olivia previously served as managing editor of the school’s newspaper, the North Star News, where she mentored other student writers, edited stories and managed content direction. Olivia looks forward to serving as editor-in-chief during her senior year. After high school, she plans to pursue a career related to political science and writing.
Ross Hudson was born and raised in Columbia, Missouri, and moved with his family to Madison, Wisconsin. in 2019. A junior honors student at East High School, Ross plays cello in school’s philharmonic orchestra. A passionate artist, Ross has played instruments since the third grade. His music skills extend to playing the bass guitar, acoustic guitar and French horn. He’s also learning to play piano, and in addition, enjoys drawing and creative writing. Ross plans to use film and video as a creative outlet to bring stories to life, especially those featuring people in LGTBQ+ communities.
Monika Jurevicius
Monika Jurevicius was born and raised in Palatine, Illinois, where she is a student at Palatine High School. There, she serves as sports editor for the school newspaper. Additionally, she serves as a marketer for the school’s foreign exchange club, creating and posting social media messaging for a variety of cultural topics. Monika also serves as president of the school’s literary and art magazine, where she critiques, edits and produces work that will be released at the end of the school year. In the future, she plans to pursue a career in journalism.