Poverty and Education in North Carolina

Poverty and Education in North Carolina

I went to an average public high school in Chester County Pennsylvania. There were schools that achieved higher scores on standardized tests than us and there were also schools that scored lower. In my experience there, I had great teachers who I feel prepared us for college or what ever path you chose to take. We had a program where you could go to a trade school for half the day for those students who wanted to take a different path besides college. The opportunities that were presented to us seemed endless. When looking at the statistics between North Carolina and Pennsylvania, the amount that NC spends on each student per year is $ 6,562, while PA spends $ 8,997. Income for teachers was also a big difference. To make $ 50,000 in North Carolina on average you have to be teaching for 30+ years. In Pennsylvania, $ 50,000 is the average that teachers make. I am sure that teachers in North Carolina are well trained and over all great teachers, but with these staggering differences, states such as Pennsylvania seem to be more inviting to teachers, thus giving states such as North Carolina a disadvantage. Nearly a third of teachers nationwide quit within their first three years due to low pay and overcrowded classrooms (greatpublicschools.org.)

The number of children in the state of North Carolina that grow up in poverty is shocking. In many Pitt County schools, over half the children are on free or reduced meal plans due to their living situations at home. In 2000, 181,682 children living in rural areas were living in poverty. About half of the children living in poverty in North Carolina are white, but the poverty rate for rural blacks, 27 percent, is more than 1.5 times greater than the rate for rural whites (Rural Data Bank). Here in Greenville, at Pactolus Elementary School and Belvoir Elementary School, 99 % of their children are at an economical disadvantage.