A judge ordered lawmakers to fund public schools under the Leandro plan this month. It's been a long time coming and it's still not a certainty.

now paying higher taxes as a consequence of gentrification should benefit from the federal funding.

“[Highway] 147, because of urban renewal, ran straight through White Rock Baptist Church,” Michaux says of one of the city’s oldest and most storied congregations. “White Rock had to move. Is there something that could be done for White Rock? There are arguments for and against. My argument is for rebuilding the community.”

Marion Johnson, a consultant with Frontline Solutions, a Black-owned firm that supports local nonprofits and foundations with a focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion, said in an email to the INDY that she thinks the “most urgent use for the Build Back Better funding is housing.”

“Not just building more affordable housing, but also extending an eviction moratorium until this pandemic is actually over,” Johnson continued. “That includes funding rental assistance to accompany the moratorium, because pausing evictions without pausing rent really just becomes a horrible game of delaying the inevitable.”

Angela Lee is executive director of the Hayti Heritage Center, the former home of the old St. Joseph AME Church that was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

According to a joint 2016 report by the city’s historic preservation commission and the city-county planning department, the old church was “a center in the Hayti community” and “remains today as the last authentic physical reminder of early Hayti.”

Lee told the INDY this week that the infrastructure funding, coupled with funding from other groups that want to invest in the district, makes this the right time for city officials to redevelop the Fayetteville Street corridor and offset the damage done by Highway 147. Lee noted that although Hayti sits in the shadow of downtown, it’s not currently mapped in the downtown district.

Lee says the St. Joseph’s Foundation in 2018 received a grant as part of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Safe Routes to School, which would reconnect Hayti to downtown by creating a safe walking route from the Hayti District to Parrish Street.

“It’s less than a mile away,” Lee said about the proposed route. “It would encourage our residents, especially our seniors, to get out and walk more and enjoy the beautiful scenery that could be created.”

Lee says the infrastructure funding could be used to perhaps shut down the Fayetteville Street exit off of the Durham Freeway and the adjoining bridge to develop an even more expansive walking route into downtown.

“It would be a beautiful thing,” she adds. “The bridge is dangerous, and so many people have to walk that way with no barriers on the sides. I think it’s important for the health of the community to close off the exit and create a walking area. I’m not a planner, but I wonder what that would look like.”

This summer, during the city’s Juneteenth celebrations, Henry McKoy, a professor of entrepreneurship in N.C. Central University’s business school, introduced Hayti Reborn, a $1 billion proposal to transform the vacant 20-acre Fayette Place into a “global equity project,” anchored by “the world’s first equity research and development park,” to “systematically close racial wealth gaps by creating global networks of equitable cities.”

McKoy envisions a sparkling global-minded environment where people in the community live, have access to centrally located resources, visit the Hayti museum, study at an innovation school and research lab, work at a biomanufacturing facility, shop at a grocery store, enjoy food halls and retail spaces, and have structured parking.

This week, McKoy told the INDY that the Hayti Reborn concept proposes reconnecting the two sides of the Durham Freeway “to represent what needs to be mended from the past harm.”

McKoy says the federal funds set aside for reconnecting communities could be used in Hayti in at least two ways: First, the city could set up a reparative justice fund, he says, and collect the names of families who were displaced residentially or business-wise from the [Highway 147] project and the urban renewal.

“The reparative justice fund could compensate those individuals or their families directly—or purchase them replacement homes or businesses from what was destroyed,” McKoy says. “Likely [it] would be for their descendants. But [it] would try to address a past harm.”

Then, McKoy says, the city could set up a fund to support the same for the next generation, because African Americans were harmed by the highway.

“The number of homes and businesses destroyed without adequate compensation could be replaced currently and ensure they are owned by African Americans,” McKoy explains. “This could hopefully lay the foundation for a rebirth of the community, based on direct reparative justice or indirect.” W

NEWS North Carolina

A Long Time Coming

A superior court judge ordered lawmakers to fully fund public schools under the Leandro plan this month. The public schools under the Leandro plan this month. The Republicans in charge have other ideas. Republicans in charge have other ideas.

BY JASMINE GALLUP jgallup@indyweek.com

In 1994, the year Kathleen Leandro sued the state on behalf of her eighth-grade son, Robb, legislators gave $4.1 billion to public schools. It sounds like a lot, but in reality it was almost $500 million less than funding over the previous year. Today, the situation is much worse.

In the past five decades, the share of money given to public schools in annual state budgets has dropped by 13 percent. Despite criticism from teachers, par-

ents, and even some students, legislators the state on behalf of her eighth-grade have continued walking down a path they son, Robb, legislators gave $4.1 billion to started down years earlier—a path toward public schools. It sounds like a lot, but in defunding public education. reality it was almost $500 million less than The Leandro case started out as an effort funding over the previous year. Today, the to improve education for students in poor situation is much worse. school districts, but over the years, the

In the past five decades, the share of focus has shifted to the quality of educamoney given to public schools in annu- tion as a whole. It raises questions that al state budgets has dropped by 13 per- school systems and parents across the cent. Despite criticism from teachers, par- country are grappling with, such as “Do we

Five poor school systems sue the state and state board of education, arguing NC has failed to educate all students equally Judge Howard Manning orders the state to provide the “resources necessary” and highquality staff to schools to comply with Supreme Court ruling LEANDRO II— Supreme Court affi rms 1997 ruling, but says state should be given an opportunity to propose a solution Manning orders the state provide a “defi nite plan of action” to comply with Supreme Court rulings

1994 2000-01 2004 2015

1997 2002 2010 2016

LEANDRO I— The NC Supreme Court rules all children have a right to a sound, basic education The state appeals again to the Supreme Court Education improves for a while, but postrecession budget cuts make it impossible for the state to meet its obligations Manning retires and Judge David Lee is appointed to the case

have enough teachers?” and “Is my child getting enough attention at school?”

Like many pillars of politics, these issues all boil down to money. And since 90 percent of the state’s public education money goes to staff salaries and benefits, teacher pay has come under the spotlight.

For teachers, it’s analogous to working for a company that lays off half its staff, then decides they weren’t needed anyway. The 2008 recession hit a lot of companies hard, forcing them to cut costs. But even after the recession passed, many stuck with a limited staff. After all, the job was still (mostly) getting done. Why pay for two teachers when one can teach math and science?

Unfortunately, teachers and support staff who are being asked to do more while being paid less are quitting. In September, Wake County reported a shortage of 274 teachers, a relatively low vacancy rate, but one that reflected an uptick in retirements and resignations. The school district also reported vacancy rates of 15 percent and more for bus drivers, child nutrition workers, instructional assistants, and maintenance and operations staff.

The loss of teachers and support staff during the coronavirus pandemic was a body blow to schools. Fewer teachers, more

State BOE asks to be released from the court’s authority Constultant WestEd releases its report BOE and plaintiff s submit a comprehensive, 8-year plan to the court, based on WestEd report and recommendations from Cooper administration Still no state budget. NCGA proposals don’t come close to funding Leandro plan. Lee gives lawmakers a deadline.

2017 2019 March Sept.

2018 2020 June Nov.

Lee denies BOE motion, orders consultant WestEd to make recommendations on how the state can meet its Leandro obligations Lee fi nds that that despite many state initiatives, children are still not receiving a sound, basic education; orders BOE and plaintiff s to develop a Leandro plan Lee orders state to implement plan Lee orders state to comply with fi nancing fi rst two years of Leandro plan

“For 17 years, [this court] has granted every reasonable deference to the legislature to put together and implement a plan.”

students, and less money for programs such as English as a Second Language all combined to put schools in a dire position.

Now, exhausted and frustrated with a lack of pay raises, bus drivers and cafeteria workers are striking in protest. On Tuesday, hundreds of cafeteria workers called in sick to protest low pay and poor working conditions. Their walkout followed a similar protest by bus drivers last month that resulted in lengthy carpool lines.

Such was the situation when, last week, superior court judge David Lee ordered the legislature to hand over $1.7 billion to public education. The money would fund the first two years of an eight-year, $5.6 billion plan to improve education for children in low-wealth districts, dubbed “the Leandro Plan.”

Under the plan, teachers would get a 5 percent pay raise in 2021–22, principals would get a pay raise, and schools could hire more teacher assistants, school nurses, school social workers, and school counselors. The state’s pre-K program would also be expanded so 75 percent of eligible children are enrolled by 2028, and money would go toward programs in poor school districts for students with disabilities, disadvantaged students, and English learners.

Lee’s court order comes after years of inaction from the state legislature, which was directed to take measures to improve public education back in 2004. A decade of litigation in the Leandro case ended that year when the state supreme court, again, ruled that the state has a constitutional obligation to provide all children with a sound, basic education.

Since then, judges have given the state multiple opportunities to comply with the ruling by increasing education funding, either through individual pieces of legislation or via the annual budget. The Republican-controlled legislature, however, has failed to develop a plan of action or make a sustained, comprehensive effort at expanding programs proven to improve public education.

Until Monday, Republican lawmakers and Governor Roy Cooper were at a stalemate when it came to the budget (and how much money should be given to schools). Even after the state Board of Education, alongside the Leandro plaintiffs, agreed on the comprehensive, eight-year plan earlier this year, legislators failed to fully fund it in their proposed budgets.

Weeks of fruitless negotiations prompted Lee to give lawmakers an October deadline to fund the Leandro plan, which they ignored, and then, earlier this week, to order state officials to transfer $1.7 billion to the Department of Public Instruction, Department of Health and Human Services, and University of North Carolina System.

“For 17 years, [this court] has granted every reasonable deference to the legislature to put together and implement a plan,” Lee said last week. “No budget has been passed … despite the significant unspent funds they have.”

Five days after Lee’s order, state leaders finally reached a compromise on the budget. And while it does give more money to public education than previous proposals, it still falls short of the Leandro plan. For example, while it would increase teacher pay in low-wealth school districts, it calls only for an average raise of 2.5 percent for teachers instead of 5 percent. The budget is expected to land on Governor Cooper’s desk by Friday.

Republicans have been vocal in their opposition to the Leandro Plan, calling Lee a “rogue judge” and expected to fight the ruling. On the other hand, state superintendent of public instruction Catherine Truitt, also a Republican, has been mostly silent on the issue. She sent a letter earlier this month urging lawmakers to pass a state budget, citing the “many crises on the horizon” should they fail to do so, but didn’t specify how much money should be allocated.

For now, Lee’s order is still standing, a ray of hope for many education advocates. After 27 years, with the Leandro case drawing to a close, perhaps Kathleen Leandro’s grandchildren will finally get the education they deserve. W