Tell NC Lawmakers: Time to Deliver the Funding Our Children are Owed!

As students, parents, educators, and staff return to school for another academic year, our Lawmakers are finalizing a state budget that should reflect our values and commitments as North Carolinians. This budget should include expansion of proven early learning opportunities that set our youngest on the road to success. It must include funding for nurses, social workers, counselors, and psychologists to address the ongoing and heightened mental health needs of our students. Our students need instructional support and materials to succeed. Funding must be targeted to our students who have been historically marginalized so that they can enjoy the same opportunities as their peers.

The most recent ruling for Leandro v. State of North Carolina represents a major victory for early learners and K-12 students. On November 4, 2022, the North Carolina Supreme Court ordered the state to release funds that will allow schools to meet the constitutional standard for education.

Our state budget must include full funding for the Leandro Plan so that every child may access meaningful educational opportunities. This represents the bare minimum for what our state must provide. This is a moral obligation, and a constitutional requirement.

While the Leandro plan remains unfunded, legislators are proposing another round of income tax cuts for the wealthy and a massive expansion of the current private school voucher programs. These programs will disproportionately benefit wealthy families while hampering opportunities for families living in poverty.

Please take a moment to contact your state representatives to communicate the need for full and equitable funding for all students, from early childhood to 12th grade. All students deserve the opportunity to flourish. The Leandro Plan shows us how to give them that opportunity. Anything less is unacceptable.

We CAN afford to fully fund the Leandro Plan.

We SHOULD act in the best interest of students.

We MUST provide children with the sound, basic education they are owed.

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We must fully fund the Leandro Plan now

Dear Lawmaker,

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For nearly 30 years, North Carolina’s constitutional promise to provide every child the opportunity to receive a sound basic education has gone unfulfilled. This historic, bipartisan failure has hurt all students, but particularly students of color, students from families with low incomes, students with disabilities, English learners, students from rural counties, and other vulnerable groups such as LGBTQ students.

The constitution is clear: all students, regardless of their background, deserve schools that equip them with the tools to become flourishing adults. The time to deliver on that promise is now.

After years of litigation, we know how to deliver the schools that students are owed. The Leandro Comprehensive Remedial Plan details the specific budget, policy, and programmatic changes necessary to meet the bare minimum of what’s required under our state constitution. The Leandro Plan is the product of several years of intense study from some of the nation’s top education experts and is informed by the on-ground expertise of North Carolina families and educators.

The most recent ruling for Leandro v. State of North Carolina is a major victory for public school students. On November 4, 2022, the North Carolina Supreme Court ordered the state to release funds that will allow schools to meet the constitutional standard for education.

The funding has yet to be delivered.

The proposed expansion of the state's private school voucher programs will disproportionately benefit wealthy families while hampering opportunities for working class families. This expansion will exacerbate budget pressures on already-underfunded school districts, provide a public subsidy to private schools that openly discriminate and lead to increased racial and economic segregation of our school communities.

We call upon you to stop the transfer of public dollars to private schools and act immediately to implement and sustain the Leandro Plan so that future generations of North Carolinian children have access to the education they are owed under our constitution.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely, [Your information here]