Freedom  for  Parents  and  More  Options  for  Children    

FOR  IMMEDIATE  RELEASE:    Monday,  February  9,  2015      CONTACT:  Jennifer  Friend,  PEFNC  Communications  Director  919-­‐871-­‐1084  (office)  919-­‐995-­‐0741  (mobile)      

PEFNC  PRESIDENT  RESPONDS  TO    SCHOOL  PERFORMANCE  GRADES  REPORT    

   Raleigh,  NC  (Feb.  9,  2015)  –  Below  is  a  statement  from  Parents  for  Educational  Freedom  in  North  Carolina  (PEFNC)  President  Darrell  Allison  regarding  the  School  Performance  Grades  Report  issued  last  week:    “Our  state  took  a  positive  step  toward  providing  parents  and  school  leaders  with  a  transparent,  user-­‐friendly  measure  on  how  public  schools  are  performing,”  Allison  said.  “We  need  a  fair  system  that  is  helpful  to  parents  who  want  to  know  how  a  school  is  potentially  impacting  their  child.  Undoubtedly,  there  has  been,  and  will  continue  to  be,  debate  about  the  efficacy  of  the  grading  system;  however,  there  is  one  glaring  fact  that  is  staring  at  us  all  –  educators,  policy  makers  and  the  general  public  –  far  too  many  of  our  low-­‐income  students  living  in  certain  zip  codes  are  zoned  to  schools  that  have  the  lowest  grades.      I  am  hopeful  the  discussion  will  shift  from  whether  leaders  support  or  disapprove  of  the  current  school  performance  report  to  a  more  important  question:  how  can  we  work  to  ensure  that  all  of  our  children  have  access  to  the  resources  they  need  to  meet  their  fullest  potential?”    The  newly  released  school  performance  grades  were  mandated  by  a  law  approved  by  the  General  Assembly  in  2013.      Parents  can  go  to  the  North  Carolina  Department  of  Public  Instruction  website  to  view  individual  school  grades  as  well  as  district  grades:  www.ncpublicschools.org/src/.      PEFNC  is  a  statewide  organization  that  supports  greater  educational  options  through  parental  school  choice,  such  as  the  Opportunity  Scholarship  Program.  The  program,  passed  in  July  2013,  creates  scholarships  of  up  to  $4,200  for  low-­‐income  and  working-­‐class  families  to  attend  a  private  school.  To  be  eligible  for  a  scholarship  for  the  2015-­‐2016  school  year,  household  income  must  not  exceed  133%  of  the  amount  to  qualify  for  free  and  reduced  price  lunch  (about  $59,668  for  a  family  of  4).  

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