State superintendent hopefuls differ greatly in vision of public education

Public K-12 education will soon be in the hands of a new North Carolina superintendent of public instruction.

It’s a big job by any definition. The superintendent is responsible for the education of more than 1.5 million students at more than 2,500 schools statewide as well as an annual budget of more than $13 billion in state and federal funds.

Democrat Mo Green and Republican Michele Morrow are vying for the job. WRAL News sat down with both candidates this week to ask about their priorities if they win in November.

• Video: Watch one-on-one interviews with Morrow and Green.

Morrow is a homeschool mom who has not worked before in public education. She says she’s running in part because she believes public schools are unsafe for students and teachers.

“I hear students that don’t want to go to the restroom during the day because they’re fearful either there’s drug use or they’re worried about being bullied in the bathroom,” Morrow said.

She thinks safety could be improved by tougher discipline and a code of conduct to set clear expectations for student behavior.

“If a student cannot contain themselves and participate in a class and allow other students to get what they need, then they need to be pulled out,” Morrow said. “I believe that the administration needs to deal with that with the parents. I think we need to take that off of our teachers’ shoulders.

Democrat Mo Green is a longtime school administrator and the former superintendent of Guilford County. His top priorities would be maintaining a safe and secure learning environment and boosting resources.

“I would lift up things like the woeful underfunding of our public schools in general. I would also lift up how much we are disrespecting our educators and not paying them what they deeply deserve,” Green said.

He’s questioned Morrow’s ability to keep schools safe because of her social media posts calling for the violent deaths of Democratic and Democratic-leaning philanthropic leaders and military intervention to keep former President Donald Trump in office. Morrow has not taken back her comments and defended her call for military intervention in an interview with WRAL News on Tuesday.

Green said he would also prioritize character education, which he says helped curb behavior problems during his tenure at the helm of Guilford County schools.

Morrow has called public schools “liberal indoctrination centers.” She says teachers tell her they’re “tired of being forced to do things” that don’t contribute to student performance.

“Instead of an educational focus, we are focused on political or even social activism, and I just think there’s no place for either side in the classroom,” Morrow said.

She says schools should spend even more time on reading and math, and she supports continuing tutoring for struggling students. Schools have added much of that using federal dollars.

Green wants to take a data-driven approach to underperforming schools, but he agrees there’s no one-size-fits-all solution.

“We need to be focused on being sure that we provide differentiated resources such that each child can get what they need to be successful when they leave high school,” Green said.

Green also said he doesn’t believe schools are in the indoctrination business, and he questioned how well a candidate with a negative view of public education could lead the state’s system.

“I believe that if you want to run our schools, if you want to advocate for our schools, you ought to believe in our schools,” Green said.