North Carolina State Board of Education

The Department of Public Instruction considers about 1 in 5 North Carolina teachers chronically absent, which it defines as taking 10 or more non-consecutive sick days in a school year. State education officials say chronic absenteeism is costing schools in student test scores and pay for substitute teachers.

Tension between State Superintendent Mark Johnson and the State Board of Education has not improved since the Supreme Court handed down its ruling in a case between the two. If anything, the tension is rising.

The North Carolina Supreme Court will hear a case Wednesday over a power struggle between Republican State Superintendent Mark Johnson and the Republican-led State Board of Education. Shortly after Johnson's election in 2016, the General Assembly passed a law to shift powers from the governor-appointed board to the superintendent.

The State Board of Education this month approved $1.2 million in grants to support digital learning initiatives in 30 school districts and one charter school. The grants are paid for by the state’s digital learning plan fund.

The State Board of Education voted in its November meeting to close Heritage Collegiate Leadership Academy in Bertie County after a series of issues that the Charter School Advisory Board Chair Alex Quigley called, "a pattern of failure."

The 2017 state budget significantly changed the way the state's nearly 2,500 principals are paid, and that has members of the State Board of Education simultaneously grateful and worried.

The State Board of Education will take a final vote on Thursday on its plan for evaluating North Carolina public schools, a requirement of the Every Student Succeeds Act. The document must include grading formulas that tell parents and the federal government how well each school is educating its students.

A new audit of Bertie County Schools reveals a system deficit of more than $700,000, mismanagement of school funding, and potential violations of state laws that go back to at least 2011.

State Board of Education members voted Thursday to revoke Kestrel Heights Charter School's right to serve high school students. The Durham K-12 charter school is on thin ice after it uncovered a long-running diploma scandal.

A Department of Public Instruction (DPI) report shows after seven years of progress in reducing high school dropouts, last school-year the state's dropout rate ticked up to about 2.4 percent. That's a slight rise from about 2.3 percent for the previous year.

The State Board of Education wants to get rid of Standard VI, a piece of teacher evaluations some say is too punitive.

Standard VI requires teachers to meet expected student growth on state standardized tests. If they don’t, principals have to take action against them. That action can range from placement on an improvement plan to dismissal.

The State Board of Education has approved a policy that allows struggling charter schools to stay open if they are less than five years old.

  UPDATED Jan. 11, 2016

Twenty percent of students who enrolled in the state's first virtual charter schools left before the end of the semester, according to a report from the state department of public instruction.

State Board of Education member Olivia Oxendine says she wants to find out why so many students are pulling out.

Lt. Governor Dan Forest has asked the State Board of Education to delay the approval of an annual report on charter schools because he says he thinks the report is too negative.

The state board planned to approve the report this week in order to send it to the General Assembly before a January deadline.

Congress might be close to an overhaul of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), and the North Carolina State Board of Education is preparing for the reboot.

State School Board Chairman Bill Cobey and State Superintendent June Atkinson are exploring using a new authority that allows the board to merge adjacent county school districts.

Yesterday we reported that state education officials were expected to vote on whether to approve two virtual charter schools to open next fall.

The schools would serve up to 3,000 students who would take all of their classes at home and interact with students and teachers online. Supporters have argued that it would help students who don’t thrive in traditional settings – especially those dealing with health issues, athletic schedules, or bullying.

 The State Board of Education is expected to approve a model employment contract for teachers this week, as teacher tenures will end within the next few years. 

The model is expected to give local school boards some guidance when drafting their own pacts with teachers.

Arapahoe Charter School - and others across the state - will soon be able to grow by one grade per year without seeking approval from the State Board of Education.

Language was changed in HB 250 earlier this month that included the one-grade expansion provision without much warning. It cleared both the Senate and the House yesterday.

Governor Pat McCrory is pushing a Five Pathways plan to improve education. The plan is broad and affects all levels of public education in North Carolina, from early childhood education to Universities.

Eric Guckian, the Governor’s Education Advisor, presented the plan to the State Board of Education today. He highlighted one of the five pathways:  growing “innovative learning options” for families.