Governor Pat McCrory is seeking the advice of two-dozen teachers in developing education policy. The Governor's Teacher Advisory Committee met for the first time - a day after educators across the state protested against changes made in the most recent legislative session.
The teachers selected for the committee come from all corners of the state and all grade levels. In their first meeting yesterday, Governor McCrory asked them to come up with recommendations on a wide array of challenges, including teacher compensation, evaluation, and testing.
A day earlier, many more teachers had protested against recent policy changes in many of those areas. The teacher "walk ins" drew criticism from many Republican lawmakers, including Senate Leader Phil Berger.
“I think there are legitimate concerns being expressed by teachers and by those in academia and I think there are concerns that commerce has,” said McCrory. “So I'm here to listen and also give feedback.”
The first committee meeting was held at SAS in Cary. During the event, company CEO and prominent Republican donor Jim Goodnight welcomed the group, and suggested to the Governor that it was time to raise teacher salaries.
