Monkey Business Report: Using COVID to justify poor public school performance
Things have been so busy elsewhere that we haven’t given our, um, “friends” on Jones Street the proper amount of attention. For instance, we should take a look at NC State Law 2021-130: “AN ACT TO PROVIDE RELIEF TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN RESPONSE TO THE CORONAVIRUS DISEASE 2019 (COVID-19) PANDEMIC.”
Check out what this legislation does to grading / evaluating of the various public schools across the state:
“[…] SECTION 1.1. Display of School Performance Grades. – Notwithstanding G.S. 115C-12(9)c1. and G.S. 115C-83.15, the State Board of Education shall not calculate achievement, growth, and performance scores nor display performance scores, growth designations, and letter grades for schools for the 2021-2022 school year, based on data from the 2020-2021 school year, but shall display a brief explanation that achievement, growth, and performance scores and letter grades were not calculated and assigned for the 2021-2022 school year because assessment data was heavily impacted by COVID-19 during the 2020-2021 school year.[…]”
So, no letting local taxpayers know that their local schools are in the toilet, circling the drain? *NICE.*
Better yet — this legislation also diminishes the value of a high school diploma:
[…] PART XI. TEMPORARILY WAIVE CERTAIN REQUIREMENTS THAT RELATE TO DRIVING ELIGIBILITY CERTIFICATES
SECTION 11.(a) Notwithstanding G.S. 20-11(n), 115C-12(28), 115C-218.70, 115C-288(k), 115C-566, and 115D-5(a3), a person required to sign a driving eligibility certificate shall issue the driving eligibility certificate without requiring the person to whom it is issued to be making progress toward obtaining a high school diploma or its equivalent, and no school authority shall notify the Division of Motor Vehicles that a person no longer meets the requirements for a driving eligibility certificate because the person is not making progress toward obtaining a high school diploma or its equivalent.[…]
In other words, you can’t block a high school dropout — or someone refusing to obtain a GED — from obtaining a driving permit.
MORE:
[…] PART XII. RESTORE CERTAIN PERMITS AND PROVISIONAL LICENSES REVOKED DUE TO CERTIFICATE INELIGIBILITY
SECTION 12.(a) Past Performance Revocation Restoration. – The Division of Motor Vehicles shall restore the permit or license of any person whose permit or license was revoked by the Division under G.S. 20-13.2(c1) due to ineligibility for a driving eligibility certificate under G.S. 20-11(n)(1). For restorations granted under this section, the Division shall not charge a restoration fee and the Division must expunge any record of revocation from the person’s driving record.[…]
In other words, if you denied someone a permit or license because they dropped out, or refused to go get a GED, you now HAVE to give them the driving permit or license. You also have to expunge any mention of the snatching of said permit or certificate from said doofus from the official record.
Of course, you have to love this example of passing the buck:
[…] PART X. LOCAL FACE COVERING POLICIES
SECTION 10. For the 2021-2022 school year, all public school units shall adopt apolicy regarding the use of face coverings by employees and students. The governing body of the public school unit shall vote at least once a month on whether the face covering policy should be modified.[…]
This takes the blame for the ol’ “face diaper” controversy away from Governor Stupid and Miss Mandy and plops it in the laps of all the local school boards. We’ve been told to listen to all the facts and “science” being spewed by Miss Mandy and Gov. Stupid. Now, the local school boards are the “wise ones.” 
Someone in Raleigh has apparently seen all the public anger over “face diaper” mandates and decided that they want no part of the blame for them.
Excellent observation of this spectacularly bad bill! Removing objective, comparative performance statistics from public reporting has allowed poorly performing school systems to get a ‘pass’ last year and this year. Citizens need calculated scores, including ACT/SAT test results, School ABC’s, and EOG/EOC scores, for them to ascertain whether our children are receiving a sound basic education as required by the state Constitution. All school systems are affected by the COVID virus. There is no objective rationale for not reporting the results to let parents and taxpayers know just how poorly their students (hence their schools) are performing- especially in view of the negative impacts the virus may have had on achievement and growth. This non-reporting also precludes terminating weak Superintendents (like the one in Lee County Schools) for sustained poor performance. Clearly, the Jones Street crowd is in cahoots with state Educrats to underwrite the failing traditional K-12 public education system. In turn, they are driving middle class families out of the public education system in favor of private and charter schooling. The net result is reduced ADM in public schools, leaving the poorest North Carolina families to contend with our most marginal schools.