Rebecca Copeland presented the board with an in-depth financial comparison of Halifax County with neighboring school districts as well as charter schools for the 2012-2013 year.
(The chart Copeland presented can be found as a PDF attached at the end of this story)
“A quality education results when trained educators present relevant curriculum in a well-managed classroom which prepares students to be career or college ready,” she said. “A top goal is steering students on the pathway to a successful life.”
An April 2009 ruling by Judge Howard Manning, Copeland said, “Gave the state authority to direct Halifax County schools' battle against academic genocide.”
The judge's ruling, she said, “Has established that every North Carolina child has a Constitutional right to a sound, basic education. However, he has not specified revenue amounts or sources to fund this effort.”
The first year of Common Core standards, Copeland said, showed Halifax County was 17.1 percent proficient, while Weldon was 17.9 percent. Roanoke Rapids, she explained, scored 37.8 percent and still ranked in the bottom 40 percentile.
“The state's intervention in Halifax County is finally showing some academic gains,” she told the board. “Both Halifax County high schools were ranked in the top 55 schools or top 2 ½ percent in the state for student growth, a computerized measurement of student improvement.”
Roanoke Rapids High School had the lowest student growth rate of all 19 schools in the county — 2,327 in the state with only 78 schools having a lower rating. Roanoke Rapids High School's black student proficiency, she said, was considerably lower than student scores in the county's four other high schools, which average 95 percent non-white students.
“Most Halifax citizens knew Halifax County schools might be in academic last place,” she said. “Not many were aware Weldon City Schools was next to last, but very few knew of the unacceptable Roanoke Rapids High School academic issues. Were commissioners aware of the magnitude of countywide academic problems?”
Initial data academic scheduled to be released Thursday, shows that Halifax County is expecting the announcement of significantly higher scores, a statement school system spokesperson Keith Hoggard, who attended the meeting, confirmed to be a true.
“According to North Carolina statutes, county governments are responsible to build, equip and maintain school facilities,” Copeland said. “Halifax County commissioners are woefully underfunding a sound, basic education for all students living anywhere in Halifax County when compared to 1.40 million (97 percent) of North Carolina public school students.”
Copeland said Roanoke Rapids and Weldon taxpayers believe their supplemental tax funds are fostering an adequate education. “Not true. Commissioners local current expense funding results in Roanoke Rapids Graded School District local expenses being 20 percent below state average and about the same as the average of the six neighboring countywide districts, none of which receive extra supplemental tax or sales tax dollars.”
In this, she said, “Halifax County Schools is the clear loser. Receiving only third world local current expense funding, the district is last statewide in local expenses. Each Halifax student in all three districts received only a $596 county appropriation and $640 when ABC (Alcoholic Beverages Control) profits and fines forfeiture revenues are included — 52 percent less than provided by neighboring counties.”
Copeland told the board, “Your lack of monetary current expense support has resulted in 99.7 percent of all K through 12 students having a local budget greater than the Halifax County School District's students. Roanoke Rapids Graded School District and Weldon City Schools taxpayers are getting shortchanged. Their extra tax dollars pay for a significant amount of commissioners funding responsibilities.”
Said Copeland: “Fix is what is broken, K through 12 public education local funding. let's not wait for the Raleigh TV stations and newspapers to again post headlines about our broken education systems, racial disparity and unemployment rates.”
Board of Commissioners Chair James Pierce said during a break in the meeting while he couldn't attest to the numbers Copeland presented, the situation “needs to be turned around. We've got to figure a way to do it. Our future depends on how well we educate our children. We need to do better in all our communities. Conversations need to continue. The more we share ideas the closer we get to solve it. It's not going to get better until we fix it.”
