Call for education reform

State representatives who visited Kinston Monday morning said there needs to be education reform statewide.

Rep. Van Braxton, D-Lenoir, Rep. William Wainwright, D-Craven, and Sen. Charlie Albertson, D–Duplin, addressed the state’s growing needs to reform education. They spoke at a forum hosted by the Kinston-Lenoir County Chamber of Commerce.

Braxton said traditional schools are failing students and state end of course tests don’t adequately measure how students perform.

“We need to go back and let teachers be creative,” Braxton said. “We need to move away from traditional schools and do it in a slow, methodical way.”

Braxton said the state Department of Public Instruction is struggling to find the right solutions to the problem.

Local resident Gram Spear suggested that the state should lift the current cap on the number of charter schools that can operate in the state. According to Braxton, the state allows up to 100 charter schools to operate within state lines.

Braxton said he wouldn’t support removing the cap on charter schools. Instead, Braxton said the state should continue to support its early college high school curriculum and the N.C. Stem program currently being developed in Lenoir County.

“If you raise the cap on charter schools, I don’t think you will see as much money coming in as you think,” Braxton said.

Albertson and Wainwright also said public education is in dire need of reform. According to Wainwright, DPI and the N.C. Board of Education are currently reviewing how to improve state testing and accountability for students statewide.

“When they complete the studies, they will present new ideas to the General Assembly,” Wainwright said.

Albertson said Duplin County schools need more attention. One school in the district failed miserably on the recent end of year tests with just 41 percent of students in grades 3 to 8 able to pass the required reading and math tests, Albertson said.

“I challenge the public schools to do better,” Albertson said. “Our future depends on it.”

The legislators also discussed how to help small business grow and bring more jobs to Eastern North Carolina.

Braxton said he wants to see corporate tax reform and would support eliminating sales taxes on business to business sales. He also wants to help small businesses be able to attain loans from banks again to finance inventory.

“I don’t think we have done enough for small business,” Braxton said.

The business mix continues to move towards the development of bio fuels, Albertson said. Albertson said the new business model will help keep farmers on their land, producing an environmentally friendly product.

State-maintained roads in Kinston and Lenoir County were also discussed. Former Kinston Mayor O.A. “Buddy” Ritch said more needs to be done to repair and modernize the state roads in the region.

“The roads are falling apart,” Ritch said.

The state legislators agreed that the General Assembly session in 2010 will likely be as volatile as the session was this year. Lawmakers worked to balance a $4.5 billion budget deficit in 2009.

Wainwright has served 10 terms in the General Assembly. He said 2009 was the most difficult year since he has served.

“The global recession didn’t start in North Carolina.,” Wainwright said. “It came here and we responded to it the best way we knew how.”

Chris Lavender can be reached at 252-559-1078 or at clavender@freedomenc.com.