Education

My life’s work has been helping kids find opportunity through education. I proudly spent sixteen years working in North Carolina’s public schools, and I loved every day of it.

While working with black and brown public school students to be the first in their family to go to college, I realized that most of their impediments were baked into our educational system rather than due to any individual circumstance about those kids or their families. So I changed the focus of my career from helping individuals to improving the educational system, often called “equity work.”

In the legislature, I have focused my education advocacy on improving public schools so that they will better serve students who are most likely to struggle. I have been a fierce advocate for fully funding our schools to meet our constitutional obligation to provide every child with a sound, basic, education. And I have introduced groundbreaking legislation that would provide students in our lowest performing schools the chance to have an extended school year so that they can catch up to where they should be.

I know that educators are the most critical asset we have to improve our educational system. I have consistently argued we must pay our educators at or above the national average.  I have sponsored legislation that would expand the pipeline for teachers. As a former school social worker, I have been among the most consistent voices for expanding the number of student support personnel in schools. And I have introduced legislation that would give teachers more time and pay for professional development opportunities that emphasize their ability to learn from each other.

While my career and legislative committee assignments have been focused on K-12 education, I am also committed to early childhood education and post-secondary education. I was a co-founder of the General Assembly’s bipartisan Early Childhood Caucus. And I have supported many bills to strengthen our community college system, keep UNC among the top higher education systems in the country, and to ensure that Historically Black Colleges and Universities are funded equitably.

I am also very honored to be one of Governor Cooper’s appointees to the Southern Regional Education. Board, where I work collaboratively with education leaders from across our region to improve public education outcomes.