Governor Perdue issued Wednesday an Executive Order (EO) aimed at sustaining high quality pre-kindergarten in the context of rapid administrative change and large budget cuts. The EO significantly furthers state compliance with Judge Manning’s recent court order that there be free access to high quality pre-k (NCPK) for all at-risk four year-olds. It is the right and necessary thing to do. Read More…

The better part of two weeks ago, Judge Manning made a ruling on the constitutional rights of children to a sound, basic education, specifically the rights of ‘at-risk’ four year olds to a high quality pre-kindergarten year of education. It was a ruling that recognized the substantial evidence, from around the nation and here in North Carolina, of the key role academic pre-kindergarten can play in improving the education and ultimately the life chances of poor children and those challenged by disabilities. Read More…

The ramifications of the budget evisceration of More at Four is becoming clear for public schools. Read More…

If the federal debt ceiling debate is making you want to bang your head against a wall, follow the shenanigans going on in Rupert Murdoch’s British newspapers. It’s a yarn that won’t make you feel any better about the world we live in, but the phone hacking can of worms has been opened and the subsequent and ongoing police investigation, Parliamentary intervention and impending inquiry, and spiraling business ramifications have a more promising story arc for those who give a damn. Read More…

The House and Senate budgets’ move of More at Four out of DPI and into Health and Human Services and the Division of Child Development (DCD) is no simple change of administrative scenery. It destroys pre-kindergarten as we now know it by hindering access for most of the neediest children, splintering local, state and federal pre-kindergarten funding and administration efforts, and degrading teacher quality. Read More…