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Fair Representation
On Thursday a federal appeals court ruled to keep an NCGA-drawn NC Senate map in a gerrymandering suit brought by two Black voters in eastern North Carolina who alleged the map discriminated against Black voters. The ruling, which affirmed a lower court decision against the plaintiffs, was issued by a three-judge panel, divided 2-1 with the sole judge appointed by a Democratic president, Judge Roger Gregory, dissenting. The judges writing the majority opinion, Judges Allison Rushing and J. Harvie Wilkinson III, pointed to the nearness of the election as a motivating factor in their reasoning, though Gregory noted in his dissent that the NCGA left the plaintiffs little time to bring their case given that they enacted new maps close to the candidate filing deadline.
Education Policy
On Tuesday the NC House Select Committee on Education Reform made a report to the NCGA that included a recommendation to modify criteria for the state’s A-F grading system for schools. The committee recommended the inclusion of new “readiness” and “opportunity performance” measures in the grading system, in line with a proposal Superintendent Catherine Truitt made to the committee last month. “Readiness” would look at how many students go to college, a job, or the military after they graduate from the school, as well as how many are able to graduate in four to five years, while “opportunity performance” would measure participation in school activities and rates of absenteeism. The committee also mentioned teacher pay in its report, noting that teacher recruitment in the state is still challenging given low teacher pay.