Improving Education
While citizens often thank Bill for his leadership on economic development issues (Cheesecake Factory fans are particularly grateful for his efforts to bring the restaurant's bakery and distribution headquarters into Nash County), Rep. Daughtridge is most proud of his contributions in education. Working with both Democratic and Republican colleagues, Daughtridge has helped raise teacher salaries and increase state investments in recruiting and retaining educators. He has also helped cap the gasoline tax and lower the state sales tax while increasing funding for organizations like the SBI, which help protect the safety of North Carolina families.
As a parent, Bill values the way an excellent education can prepare a child to successfully contribute as a citizen. As a business owner, he knows how important well-trained workers with advanced skills are to growing the economy. As a public officeholder, Bill knows that providing a high quality education to all our students increases our base of taxpayers and reduces the need for welfare programs and prisons that burden state government.
In the North Carolina House, Bill has been an outspoken advocate of the need to reform our state's education system. Too many students are dropping out of school and too many educators have accepted this mediocrity. This isn't fair to the excellent principals and teachers who do great work and it's not fair to our students. The economic model that has enabled us to survive the past half century is being radically altered. Overseas competition, communications advances, an increasingly mobile creative class of highly skilled workers, and the seamless movement of capital across borders have created a new economic order. North Carolina can use this turbulence to its advantage with a productive education system or it can be left behind.
When over four of every ten students do not graduate from high school, Bill is worried we're on track to be left behind. The new economy demands highly trained workers with relevant skills. This doesn't mean everyone needs a Ph.D. but it does mean that we should strive for a statewide 90% high school graduation rate.
The Daughtridge Education Agenda
Lift the cap on charter schools. Strong charter schools support the public school system while providing choice to parents and teachers. Charter schools have a higher percentage of Schools of Excellence and a greater percentage of students meeting Adequate Yearly Progress. By learning from the best practices of our most successful charter schools, we can enhance existing schools and support an innovative reform culture. We can also use the charter school model to revamp outmoded curriculums so that school is relevant to our students.
Transform failing high schools. Smaller class sizes and more guidance counselors to work with at-risk students, can reduce our dropout rate and prepare students for an increasingly competitive economy. With only 6 in 10 students graduating from high school, North Carolina needs to dramatically reform our secondary education system. We need to stop failing 40% of our students and start providing them with tools to succeed in a global economy.
Fully fund community colleges. North Carolina ranks near the bottom at paying community college teachers. We're also unprepared to accommodate new students. Over 99% of community college graduates are employed within a year of graduation. We need to invest in a system that is an economic engine for the state.
Support public-private education success. In the House, Daughtridge ran the Umstead Act exemption, a bill that enabled our universities to compliment private enterprise by launching ventures developed with the intellectual property of our professors' research. This legislation has enabled the infusion of private capital into our universities to enhance academic research. It also benefits North Carolina citizens who gain from new medicines and products incubated on our campuses. It has been particularly helpful to rural areas who can now enjoy services provided by our universities where no such services were being offered by the private sector.
Bill has a parent's concern about the way our education system is failing students and a business owner's resolve to make our system work.
