North Carolina 16th in education freedom analysis

(The Center Square) – Helped by ranking 11th in return on investment, North Carolina is 16th overall in this month’s Education Freedom Report Card.

The state was 15th in teacher freedom, 16th in education choice and 23rd in transparency, according to the Heritage Foundation’s annual analysis.

According to the report , “North Carolina spends the 47th-most (meaning the fourth-least) per pupil, spending $12,320 in cost-of-living-adjusted terms annually. North Carolina ranks 25th in its combined fourth-grade and eighth-grade math and reading average NAEP score.”

The return on investment score also factors in 2.42 teachers for every nonteacher in the public school system, the report said. The unfunded teacher pension liability is 2.8% of gross domestic product.

Teachers who came onboard through alternative teacher certification options, a “strong 33%” the report says, helped the teacher freedom metric. Against it is the lack of full reciprocity on teacher licensure with other states.

Heritage says the score can increase with elimination of teacher certification altogether and cutting down on increasing numbers of nonteaching staff. Singled out in the latter suggestion was chief diversity officers.

Year over year in the analysis, North Carolina dropped two spots overall; went up three in education choice; down two in return on investment; down three in teacher freedom; and down six in transparency.

North Carolina is the ninth most populous state with about 10.8 million residents, including about 1.5 million schoolchildren.