N.C. Supreme Court orders state to fund Leandro Plan

On Nov. 4, the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled that it could compel the state to fund the Leandro Plan.

NC Supreme Court orders state to fund Leandro Plan

BY HANNAH MCLEOD STAFF WRITER

The latest development in the Leandro v. The state of North Carolina court case came last week when the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled that state officials can be ordered to transfer the funds necessary to fully fund a sound basic education to the state’s k-12 public schools.

“It’s our constitutional duty to ensure every child has access to a sound basic education,” said Governor Roy Cooper. “As the NC Supreme Court has affirmed today, we must do more for our students all across North Carolina.”

The Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s ruling from 2021 requiring the state to fund the Leandro Plan, an eight-year remedial plan with specific investments to ensure all children have access to a sound basic education.

The initial order of $1.75 billion to fund the plan was lowered to $785 million by a trial judge following the passage of the 2021 state budget.

“Today’s ruling reaffirming that the General Assembly must fund the Leandro education plan is a victory for everyone who believes all students, regardless of their background, deserve to receive a fully funded education that prepares them for the future,” said North Carolina Association of Educators President Tamika Walker Kelly in a statement.

The Leandro case, after almost 30 years, remains one of the most prominent education policy issues in North Carolina. In 1994, five low-wealth school districts filed a lawsuit against the state arguing that their schools didn’t have the funding needed to provide an equal education for their public school children. In 1997 and again in 2004, the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled that the state has a constitutional obligation to ensure all children have access to a sound basic education.

In 2018, a judge ordered WestEd, an independent educational consultant to recommend ways the state could comply with the court rulings. Parties to the case used their findings to create what became known as the Leandro Plan, which laid out the need for $5 billion in funding over an eightyear period.

In March of this year, the Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments to the case again after the passage of the new state budget, and Judge Michael Robinson ruled that the state was responsible for funding the comprehensive remedial plan, but could not be ordered to do so. This decision led to the case coming before the court yet again in August 2022, to determine whether the court could compel the state to fund the plan.

Haywood County Operation nets 112 grams of fentanyl

Over four days, Haywood County Sheriff’s Office Deputies and agency partners led a largescale operation that resulted in the seizure of 63 grams of methamphetamine, 112 grams of Fentanyl, 2.4 grams of cocaine, 6.8 grams of opioids and the arrests of 37 people.

On Oct. 19, deputies with the Criminal Suppression Unit/Narcotics Unit of the Haywood County Sheriff’s Office and officers from the Waynesville Police Department, Maggie Valley Police Department, Canton Police Department and North Carolina Probation and Parole participated in a large-scale operation focused on targeting drug traffickers in our community.

In addition to the many traffic stops, K9 deployments, and searches, significant arrests and seizures were made. Law Enforcement Officers seized 63 grams of methamphetamine, 112 grams of Fentanyl, 2.4 grams of cocaine and 6.8 grams of opioids, which resulted in the arrest of 37 people, 57 charges and the serving of 16 warrants.

If anyone has information regarding drug trafficking in Haywood County, please call the Haywood County Sheriff’s Office Crime Stoppers Tipline at 1.877.922.7463 or visit the Community Concerns Portal at haywoodncsheriff.com/community-tips-concerns.

“Since the start of the Leandro legal battle, an entire generation of students in North Carolina has lost out on what it means to have a fully funded education,” said Walker Kelly. “Our legislators have done us all a disservice by not providing adequate resources for our schools to be successful and it is up to us to hold them accountable to the constitution of our state.”

Writing for the majority, Justice Robin Hudson made it clear that the court was done waiting for the North Carolina General Assembly to fulfill its duty to the public school system.

“In the eighteen years since [Leandro II, Hoke County Board of Education v. State], despite some steps forward and back, the foundational basis for the ruling of Leandro II has remained unchanged: today, as in 2004, far too many North Carolina schoolchildren, especially those historically marginalized, are not afforded their constitutional right to the opportunity to a sound basic education,” wrote Hudson. “As foreshadowed in Leandro II, the State has proven — for an entire generation — either unable or unwilling to fulfill its constitutional duty. Now, this Court must determine whether that duty is a binding obligation or an unenforceable suggestion. We hold the former: the State may not indefinitely violate the constitutional rights of North Carolina school children without consequence.”

The 4-3 decision was made along party lines with Democratic justices in the majority. With two seats up for election this year, the makeup of the court could soon change.

Rep. Mark Pless (R-Haywood) told The Smoky Mountain News he does not believe the court can compel legislators to fund the Leandro Plan.

“In my research, it can’t be funded the way they’re trying to fund it by the constitution of North Carolina,” said Pless. “It has to be done by a bill. A ruling from the court system can’t free up the money because the representatives — Senate, House and of course the governor — that has to be done by a public bill. And I honestly believe, if we go around that, if you get a budget that you disagree with, all you have to do is go get a judge that says ‘hey, you should have gotten this amount of money, $500 million here, a billion dollars there.’ All they have to do is get a judge or someone to be sympathetic to the situation. We can’t allow that to happen.”

The federal government provides around 8% of funding for public schools, states are responsible for about 46% and local governments about 45%. In North Carolina, average per pupil spending is just over $9,000 while the national average is $12,519. North Carolina ranks about 34th in the nation for teacher pay. Teachers in the state make an average of $37,049; the national average is $54,150.

“We see every day the disparities in this state between affluent and marginalized communities and we know that today’s ruling takes us one step closer to allowing every student to grow and thrive in their public schools.”

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WCU alumnus providing leadership gifts

Steve Couch, a 1985 graduate of WCU with a degree in industrial technology, is having a major impact on the lives of current students and student-athletes.

Twenty-six students in WCU’s College of Engineering and Technology have received financial assistance through the Carlton O. and Margaret W. Couch Scholarship Fund initially established through a gift of $25,000 from Couch in 2010. That endowed fund now stands at the $150,000 mark after additional contributions made over the years and will reach $500,000 through a planned estate gift pledge made in 2018.

The most recent example of Couch’s legacy of giving is a June 2022 pledge totaling $250,000 over the next five years to benefit the Catamount athletics program. The gift commitment includes $75,000 for the Catamount Club, $25,000 for the men’s basketball program and $150,000 toward athletics facility renovations.

“Steve is enhancing the lives of so many Western Carolina University students and Catamount student-athletes through his ongoing acts of generosity, while honoring his family and leaving a legacy of his own,” said Jamie T. Raynor, vice chancellor for advancement. “The university depends upon loyal and consistent donors such as Steve to help us provide the transformative power of higher education to our students and to enhance their academic and extracurricular experiences during their time with us.”

Shortly after endowing the scholarship fund in his parents’ memory, Couch was invited by then-Chancellor John W. Bardo to return to Cullowhee to tell his story at the university’s annual scholarship luncheon, which pairs donors with the students who benefit from their gifts.

“I just about got kicked out of Western my second year because my grades were so bad. I had a professor who also was my adviser, and he sat me down and set me straight. He said, ‘Your parents are paying for you to be here to get a college education, so you better straighten up or just go on home.’ He may have officially been teaching me Economics 203, but what he really taught me was Life 101,” Couch said.

After that academic intervention, Couch began hitting the books in earnest, improving his grades to the point where he made the dean’s list his final two semesters.

His sister, Janice Couch Thompson, is a retired guidance counselor in Durham County Schools who volunteers as coordinator of the Couch Oil Cares Scholarship Program, which is affiliated with the Durham Bulls Minor League Baseball team. Six high school seniors are awarded $1,000 each during a Bulls baseball game each July, with 42 students receiving awards totaling $42,000 over the eight years since the program was created in 2015.

Couch called it a highlight of his life to be back involved with his alma mater.

“Full circle, and it’s really the way it’s meant to be for alumni – giving back to the organization so they can continue to have a positive impact on current students.”

Although Couch did not participate in intercollegiate athletics as a student-athlete during his time at WCU, he said he has been a loyal fan of the Catamounts since he first set foot on campus and noted that improvements to athletics facilities are an important part of the school’s future.

For more information on creating an endowed fund or supporting funds for immediate use to help students pursue their higher education goals, contact the WCU Division of Advancement at 828.227.7124 or advancement@wcu.edu, or visit the website give.wcu.edu.

Janice Couch Thompson shares a moment with her brother, Steve Couch.

Haywood youth selected in World War II D-Day immersion study abroad

Adam Clay Boyd, age 9 of Haywood County, was selected as one of seven students in the nation between the ages of 8-12 as an ambassador with the Bridge to History (B2H) program, a part of the nonprofit organization Operation Meatball.

Boyd traveled 10 days between England and Normandy, France, to study the events of the D-Day Invasions by the Allied Forces of Britain, Canada and the United States of America as part of Operation Overlord beginning June 6, 1944. Adam was the only student selected from North Carolina and joined students from Florida, Texas, Kentucky and Illinois along with their parent chaperones and staff with the Bridge to History program. The delegation traveled Sept. 30 – Oct. 10, 2022.

Over the course of the nine-day overseas bootcamp, Adam and the B2H children walked the battlefields, felt the sands of Omaha Beach between their fingers, climbed in old German bunkers, talked with allied veterans of World War II and their families, learned facets of military life, met their young French counterparts, paid their respects to the war fallen in special ceremonies at the cemeteries, and saw how a nation responds to oppression and liberation.

The students are called “Bridge to History Ambassadors” because when the trip ends, their mission is only beginning. When the children return stateside, they will have been commissioned to take what they have learned and apply it to their lives at home.

UNC Asheville awarded $110,000 by SECU

internships across North Carolina thanks to a $110,000 grant from the SECU Foundation.

The SECU Public Fellows Internship Program, now in its third year at UNC Asheville and implemented across 16 universities in the UNC System, is designed to connect talented undergraduate students with meaningful on-the-job experience with a local agency or organization, while providing a unique learning opportunity to allow students to give back to their community.

For UNC Asheville students, internship partners for summer 2022 included Pisgah Legal, Asheville Humane Society, Mountain BizWorks, Girl Scouts, and MAHEC, as well as new host sites, Asheville Art Museum, Blue Ridge Public Radio, Land of Sky Regional Council, and the Small Business Technology Development Center.

This year’s program also included a new kickoff orientation and keynote address on diversity in the workplace by career coach Tiffany Waddell Tate.

“I decided to become a part of the SECU Public Fellows Internship program because it provided a way to have a meaningful and useful summer job,” said health and wellness promotion major Maggie Martin, who interned with the Girl Scouts Peak to Piedmont program.

Learn more about each student’s experience in their own words at: https://stories.unca.edu/2022secu-public-fellows.

Students accepted into the program earned $15.50 an hour to work full-time from June to August 2022, earning three academic credit hours in the process. UNC Asheville students interested in applying should email career@unca.eduexpressing their interest.

The UNC Asheville Career Center is currently seeking host sites for the 2023 SECU Public Fellows Internship Program. To be eligible, sites must submit an application and meet the following criteria: • North Carolina-based and North Carolinaserving • Commitment to improve lives for rural North Carolinians • Non-profit or government agency • Minimum of three full-time employees • Subject to approval from SECU Foundation

Contact Cate Marshall at cmarsha3@unca.edu or Lisa Mann at mann@unca.edu for more details or to apply.

Spring registration at HCC now open

Spring semester registration at Haywood Community College is now open.

HCC offers a variety of courses delivered in an array of methods to fit all schedules. From in-person to entirely online, the college has what students need to create a flexible schedule for those who are employed or may also be balancing a family, making it easy to get the credentials needed to move forward.

Through the generosity of donors, HCC has a variety of scholarship opportunities available to students.

For more information and for scholarship eligibility requirements, visit haywood.edu or call 828.627.2821.