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NC Superintendent Mo Green talks about school funding, cellphones in the classroom, and listening

Maurice "Mo" Green is the new state superintendent of public instruction.
James Farrell
/
WFAE
Maurice "Mo" Green is the N.C. Superintendent of Public Instruction.

During a tight and contentious campaign for North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction, Democratic candidate Mo Green positioned himself as a staunch advocate for public schools, calling for more funding and higher teacher pay.

Now, just a few weeks into the job, he’s faced with the task of making those campaign issues a reality.

At his inauguration earlier this month, the former superintendent of Guilford County Schools said he intended to use his new position to promote the positives of public schools.

“I also intend to use this platform to remind us that being a public school educator is a noble profession, one that must be revered," Green said.

In an interview with WFAE at his office in Raleigh, he argued that reverence should be reflected, at least in part, in higher teacher pay. Of course, there’s only so much power the state superintendent has to make that happen — the General Assembly controls spending and sets the base pay for educators. For Green, that means there are a lot of conversations with legislators ahead.

“I don’t want to suggest any sort of outcomes, process right now, other than we need to engage in lots of conversations that will hopefully lead us to a good result," Green said.

In the nearly three weeks since inauguration, “listening” has been a cornerstone of Green’s message.

He’s working on an entry plan that includes a lengthy series of listening sessions across the state. He plans to meet with administrators, teachers, legislators, parents — even families that don’t send their kids to public schools. Green says those conversations will all form the basis of a strategic plan. And the listening tour is underway — most recently, he spoke with educators out west, in the Hurricane Helene-hit districts of Yancey, Mitchell and Madison County Schools.

“The reason that I think it’s important for us to do that, is for me to understand the issues that folks are concerned about, to certainly hear both internally and externally what folks would like to see going forward, and also an opportunity for me to share a bit about what I’m thinking about as I enter into an organization as well," Green said.

Green has had what he describes as “very, very informal” conversations with the representatives from the General Assembly. But before diving into more substantive talks, he’s hoping to establish a joint legislative agenda between the Department of Public Instruction and the state Board of Education.

The board started those conversations at its January meeting. And in the meantime, Green has been filling out his government affairs staff — the ones who will be leading the charge on communication with legislators. He recently hired Geoff Coltrane as DPI’s head of government affairs and Elizabeth Yelverton as a legislative liaison. Green said compensation would be on his list of priorities.

“That is not going to be a surprise, I think, to folks in the General Assembly," Green said. "I’ve been very clear that we have to uplift our educators, talk about revering our educators. That reverence, I think also needs to show up in the level of compensation that we provide to them.”

The Republican-controlled General Assembly has not been seen as friendly to new public education spending in recent years. It most recently passed a $463 million expansion of private school vouchers. But still, Green believes he can work with legislators.

“We’ll certainly lift up concerns and issues, but I often find that if you can listen to folks, maybe there is a way forward that maybe neither of us have thought about really, really fully," Green said.

Indeed, Green opposed the expansion of private school vouchers, arguing it directed needed resources away from public schools and toward less accountable private organizations.

On charter schools, Green has a more nuanced view. He supports these publicly funded, independently run schools, believing they offer families choices and allow for educational innovation. However, he also believes their growth should be managed. A statewide cap on charter schools was lifted in 2011— there are now more than 200 in North Carolina. Green said he would have advocated for incremental growth, allowing more schools based on criteria that would include performance.

“I’m not opposed to choice — and substantial choice — but when you’re talking about public dollars, those choices, I believe, should be dollars that are allowing for choice within the public school structure," Green said.

I talked to Green about other proposals — like Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools’ recently announced effort to create more affordable housing for teachers. CMS says a lack of affordable housing as a key barrier to recruiting and retaining teachers amid shortages.

Green says affordable housing is a problem statewide. He agrees that local investments in what he calls “compensation-adjacent” issues like housing are worthwhile, and could create models for other school communities seeking similar solutions. But Green also said those initiatives shouldn’t distract from the state-level work on pay.

“Even as we address those issues, and we should, how about we address what is actually the core issue — and that is the low compensation, the low pay for our educators," Green said. "If we elevate that, I would argue that some of those other issues become less of an issue.”

Of course, pay and funding aren’t the only two issues facing the state’s public schools. For instance, state leaders have recently been exploring the topic of cellphones. Several states have passed legislation banning or restricting phone use in classrooms. Green says he hopes to engage educators on the issue more, but he does foresee a need for a policy that allows for some local flexibility.

“I do believe we can get to a place where — if the General Assembly will allow our educators to be the leaders on this — to a place where we’ll manage an appropriate result, which will allow some use of cellphones for educational purposes, but also then be sure that we don’t allow cellphones to distract from those very same educational opportunities," Green said.

Coming out of a bruising election, in which his opponent, Republican Michele Morrow, drew national headlines for controversial comments that included calling for the public execution of former President Barack Obama, Green said he’s focused on the positives.

“So I certainly believe that the way forward is to do what I said we would do as part of our campaign, and that is to establish a vision that folks across all sorts of divides can buy into," Green said.

And for Green, developing that vision starts with the cornerstone of his entry plan: listening.

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James Farrell is WFAE's education reporter. Farrell has served as a reporter for several print publications in Buffalo, N.Y., and weekend anchor at WBFO Buffalo Toronto Public Media. Most recently he has served as a breaking news reporter for Forbes.
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