Now is the time to keep the limelight still on Leandro and shine a spotlight on the NC Supreme Court. Sher, former president of the N.C. Child Advocacy Institute, encourages North Carolinians to “use this time before the [Leandro] ruling to try to positively influence at least two of the Republican justices. These justices must be shown this is their career and legacy defining moment.”
“The Leandro Plan is the best path available toward reversing the sad reality that nearly half of today’s students across N.C. did not pass grade level tests in such basics as reading and math. It is a far better — and more realistic — path than the one already chosen by the Republican-majority General Assembly, i.e., siphon off public, taxpayer money to subsidize private schools.
Private schools have always existed and many are very good. There are not, and never will be, enough good private schools to enroll and educate North Carolina’s 1.5 million students. Helping the wealthy at the expense of everyone else is not social justice.
The action has now shifted to behind-the-scenes deliberations and influencing. Silence must be music to the ears of the Republican justices as they prepare their ruling. They don’t want spotlights shining on them — and on what their negative ruling on Leandro will mean for children and young people, as well as N.C.’s society and economy.
By contrast, what would be ideal for the enormous number of potential Leandro beneficiaries is to use this time before the ruling to try to positively influence at least two of the Republican justices. These justices must be shown this is their career and legacy defining moment.
Influencing their choices is far more likely to occur if N.C.’s individuals, families, organizations and the media (including social media) continue to raise their voices and keep these justices in their headlights and their headlines. This has to happen now, before the ruling. Protesting afterwards will be “too little, too late.”
Leandro is not “yesterday’s news.” Instead, it is the future of North Carolina’s children and young people — their lives and life chances — that are at stake right here, right now. This is the time to speak up and fight for them; not to stay silent and look away.”
Dr. Jonathan Sher