Ten eastern NC counties continue losing people, business

Ten eastern NC counties lost population from 2005 to 2006, continuing an alarming trend. Of the counties that lost population, a dozen had fewer people than in 2000. Ten of the 12 are in Eastern North Carolina.

Lost industry and jobs in those areas has fueled the migration of people away from these areas and efforts to draw new businesses to the region has not helped as expected even after the state spent millions of dollars to attract new companies and jobs.

The N&O report paints a gloomy picture for that part of the state. "We keep hoping things are going to get better, but it hasn't happened," said Claudia Cahoon, a Hyde County native who works nights at Hyde Correctional Center and runs a struggling seafood business during the day. "You've got to love it to stay here."

The article further states that "eastern North Carolina leaders say the biggest challenges lie ahead for counties that are too far from the coast to attract tourists and retirees and too far from urban centers to attract commuters. Without the textile plants and small tobacco farms that once fueled their economies, some say, there are few prospects for growth."

News and Observer
March 22, 2007
Kristin Collins and Jerry Allegood, Staff Writers

Rural East losing people
Ten Eastern counties are among 15 in the state that lost population from 2005 to 2006, new estimates show

SWAN QUARTER - Jobs at the state prison are all that separate many in this remote Eastern North Carolina community from poverty. The docks, once bustling with commercial fishermen, sit all but empty. Abandoned homes dot the roadsides.

Hyde County, battered by hurricanes and the decline of farming and fishing, has lost nearly 8 percent of its population since 2000.

Census estimates being released today show that people continue to flee rural Eastern North Carolina, even as newcomers pour into the state, settling mainly in urban centers around Charlotte and the Triangle. Read more...

Smoking ban proposed in North Carolina

Will North Carolina change course on smoking in State owned facilities and ban smoking? According to this March 7, 2007, news article "State lawmakers in tobacco-rich North Carolina are headed for a showdown over smoking in public places."

The North Carolina Progress Board also issued a report on the Smoking
trend in the state.

Exerpt from the article...

News and Observer
March 7, 2007
David Ingram, Staff Writer

Statewide smoking ban gains support

State lawmakers in tobacco-rich North Carolina are headed for a showdown over smoking in public places.

Spurred in part by a request from Mecklenburg County commissioners, the General Assembly is considering legislation that would allow counties and other localities to regulate smoking on their own.

Or lawmakers could go further. Read more...

Best teachers and most-needy kids rarely meet in NC

According to a news release in January, 2007, the best teachers and "high-needs" kids rarely mix in the state school system. The report states "North Carolina leads the nation with teachers who hold a national credential, considered the gold standard of the profession. The national board announced recently that more than 1,500 teachers in the state earned certification this year, the most in the nation, pushing the total number in the state to more than 11,000. A large part of the reason is a pay incentive matched by few other states."

NC teachers with national certification earn an extra 12 percent on top of their annual salary, regardless of where they teach, giving them upwards of $5,000 additional pay each year."

It's time for the state to make sure all students have teachers of the highest quality and provide the best education possible for all in order to allow NC to build the skilled work force it needs to remain competitive in the future.

For additional information about education in North Carolina see also the 2006 Education Update Report published by the North Carolina Progress Board.

News and Observer
January 23, 2007
Todd Silberman and David Raynor, Staff Writers

Highly qualified teachers, high-needs kids rarely mix in North Carolina
N.C. leads in top teachers, but few are in poor, rural schools

Knightdale Elementary School isn't the kind of school that typically attracts many nationally certified teachers.

Teachers with the credential, which enhances pay and reputation, tend to work in richer schools with fewer minorities.

But this year, 11 Knightdale Elementary teachers hold certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. The number has more than tripled since 2002. Six more teachers this year are working toward certification.

Knightdale has done this despite state policy that does little to bolster those numbers in schools facing tougher challenges. Even though the state spends more than $42 million on extra pay to reward nationally certified teachers, only about one of 10 works in the one-fifth of public schools that are the state's poorest. Read more...

Low on-time graduation rate in North Carolina

Another low mark for North Carolina has been released. Despite the Governor's stated position that he is the "education" governor the state can't seem to get it right in helping our children be the leaders in quality education. A new article published March 1, 2007, in the News and Observer clearly shows NC has a much lower graduation track record than previously told...

March 1, 2007
News and Observer
T. Keung Hui, Staff Writer

Only 68% graduate on time in N.C.
State needs concerted effort to pull kids through high school, educators say

RALEIGH - After years of claiming that nearly all public high school students graduated, the state released figures Wednesday showing that their actual performance is far worse.

The state Department of Public Instruction said 68.1 percent of freshmen who entered high school in 2002 graduated four years later. In previous years, the state used a different calculation method and said the rate was more than 90 percent.

"If I could, I would expunge those numbers," said state school Superintendent June Atkinson. "They were absolutely meaningless, useless pieces of information." Read more...