Episode 267: Save the Date for NC Legislators in Schools Week 2026

On this episode, we’re thrilled to be announcing North Carolina Legislators in Schools Week 2026! This year’s school visits will take place during the week of April 13, during which all members of the North Carolina General Assembly are invited to spend a day, or a few days, visiting the local public schools they represent.

Guests:
Representative Alan Branson
Representative Amos Quick III
Superintendent Don Phipps, Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools
Rachel Candaso, 2025 NC Teacher of the Year

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:14

Welcome to Education Matters, presented by the Public School Forum of North Carolina. I'm your host, Amos Fodchuck. Today, we're thrilled to be announcing North Carolina Legislators in School Week for the year 2026. This year's school visits will take place during the week of April 13th, during which all members of the North Carolina General Assembly are invited to spend a day or a few days visiting the local public schools they represent. To help us learn more about this year's event, we're joined by Representative Alan Branson. Thank you for coming today, Alan. Thank you. Superintendent Don Phipps of Winston-Salem, Forsyth County Schools. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 0:53

Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 0:54

Representative Amos Quick, the third, it's good to meet you, Amos.

SPEAKER_00 0:58

Good to meet you, Amos.

SPEAKER_04 0:59

And I'm glad you're here. Thank you. And Rachel Candaso, 2025 North Carolina Teacher of the Year.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_04 1:06

Congratulations. We'd love to start with you, and I'd I'd love for you to just give us a little history lesson, Rachel. What inspired NCLISW and who are the events organizers?

SPEAKER_01 1:19

Yes, I will I will say that this is definitely something that's been headed by the Teacher of the Year Principal of the Year Network, but specifically with Leah Carper and principal Patrick Green. They have started this and they pull each year's Teacher of the Year Principal of the Year in to do this work. But really, you know, in the classroom when it's the middle of the school year and you're thinking all this stuff is happening in Raleigh and all these legislation is being passed, and you're just like, I wish people would see what we do every day, right? And so, you know, many teachers across the state have that feeling of like, I want people to see the work that we do, what a normal day in the school is like. And so this is a great opportunity to bring people in to see what a typical day is like in our schools throughout the state, to see the investment that you guys are making in public education and all the great things that are happening, but also to see, you know, what still needs to be done. And so this gives teachers and support staff and administration teams the opportunity to share the great work happening, but also to bring in and make those connections with their representatives to see what is happening in our schools.

SPEAKER_04 2:22

Thanks, Rachel. So, Alan and Amos, as legislators, what makes this week-long event of spending time in schools important to you and your colleagues across our state?

SPEAKER_02 2:33

The uh biggest thing is uh being the husband of a former educator, my wife, who's re retired now in a different career, and having a daughter in special ed. I think it's uh huge to uh have a working relationship with the school system and the leadership in the schools. Uh former Guilford County Commissioner here. I was charged with uh bringing both the Board of Commissioners and the School Board together to brainstorm as ways we could direct funding and uh form the bond referendum, which we've been able to do and uh build several new schools throughout Guilford County.

SPEAKER_00 3:17

So for 12 years, uh beginning in 2004, I served on Guilford County's Board of Education and realized there that there were decisions being made at a higher level that directly impacted what was happening inside of our educational institutions. And so I ran for the State House to bring a voice of some experience as to what happens on the ground. Uh events like this, legislators and schools help us to get a better perspective, to not just have a media narrative of what happens in our schools, but to see the success that happens in every school building across the state of North Carolina. If we're not careful, we will allow the negative media to uh paint the picture for us of what happens in our schools. But all over the state of North Carolina, in every classroom, children are learning, children are growing, and our future leaders are being developed. And it's important for legislators to know that because for one reason, the biggest budget item in the state of North Carolina is education. And so it's probably a good idea for us to have an accurate assessment, an accurate picture of what's happening in the schools, and legislators in school days help us to do that.

SPEAKER_04 4:25

Thank you, Amos. Thank you, Alan. So, Don and Rachel, as educators, what do you hope to get out of the North Carolina Legislators in Schools Week across your communities but also across our state?

SPEAKER_03 4:38

Well, you know, for us it's the opportunity to build awareness. There's nothing like being in the classroom and seeing what's going on because there is a narrative. And I think if you go in and have a chance to see it for yourself, you can create your own narrative. And we're so proud of the work being done. And the problem is those stories don't get told. And every school is unique. Every school has wonderful things that are going on, and we would love to have our elected officials there to be able to see it. But I think it also brings home when you all are having conversations uh that are eventually going to turn into laws, you know, to be able to have that real first-hand experience. And then the opportunity for our students and teachers to interact with you all. You all are celebrities, you're royalty when you're in our building, and you are always, but certainly as guests in our building, uh, folks just love the fact that you take time out of your busy schedule to make time for them, and it makes them feel so important and valued.

SPEAKER_01 5:29

Yeah, I have to agree. So I think this week really just creates this pipeline for teachers to get to, you know, know their legislators and have that conversation and start the conversation in case they need, you know, to share anything with them in the future, but also for students. I remember Senator Candy Smith coming to my school for an event, and it was so inspiring for my students to see a state senator. I mean, they were taking pictures, they were like a celebrity, you know, and it feels like such an amazing thing for a student to see that people care that they want to come and they want to see what you're doing, and then for them to be, you know, recognized as a leader in the community. And so that's something that I think this week does is it brings people in so the kids can see, so the teachers can see, and we can build that working relationship.

SPEAKER_04 6:14

I I think so. I I feel like schools are one of the common structures that we have in any community, regardless of region, regardless of population density, regardless of local industry. Um, and it's something that we can share with generations. And to me, what I heard from your your reflections is empathy, a shared experience. So, Alan, uh Amos, as legislators who advocate for education and seek the critical funding and the recognition uh that allow schools to thrive in community, when when you're walking through classrooms and engaging with teachers and students and administrators, possibly family members, community members, are are you looking to highlight successes? Are you looking for areas of improvement, or are you finding maybe a mix of both that allow you to be as uh as impactful in your advocacy going forward?

SPEAKER_00 7:13

I think there's a combination of those things. Um, like Alan, uh I have a daughter who's a fifth grade teacher uh now, this is her first year teaching, and I get a different perspective of what it looks like uh from a teacher uh who's new to the profession and who gets to see uh come in kind of with a a new view as to uh the education profession. But when I personally visit, even before my daughter started to teach, when I personally visit, um having been on the school board and having seen education been so beat up by our society, uh being defined by failures and not by the successes, I to kind of take it as a personal challenge to make sure that the stories are lifted up. To go to graduations, one of the things that I love to do here in Guilford County is to go to as many graduations as my schedule allows because there the story is not only told, but there's a visual of what has happened for uh 10 to 12 years with a kid who comes into a building not knowing how to read, not knowing how to identify colors or whatever, but now they are graduating from high school and giving themselves and their families and the future generations of their families wonderful opportunities. I think those stories need to be told uh as loud or even louder than the other stories that uh kind of drag down the public perception of our schools.

SPEAKER_04 8:30

Thank you, Amos. After the break, we'll continue our discussion of the North Carolina Legislators in Schools Week. So, Don, you have a very specific and complimentary perspective to Rachel. As a superintendent, you see things at the macro level. You see the deep interplay between community and schools and that and the relationship that communities have with their respective school systems. Rachel, your relationship is with a smaller number and a deeper relationship associated with children and their families. You have colleagues who are working to the left, to the right, above and below you. Um, and so as educators, what are you hoping that legislators will take away from their short time, hopefully purposeful time in your schools and in your classrooms?

SPEAKER_01 9:40

I will say that, you know, an investment in our public education is an investment in the future of North Carolina. Coming from Eastern North Carolina, you know, we face so many different um barriers in terms of our public schools. And so when you pass a budget that encompasses all of the needs that our schools throughout the state have, you're investing in the future of North Carolina. Um, we want our families to also see through this week that there is a K-12 pipeline to set your students up for success in our public schools, whether it's in Guilford County or in Pitt County, that there are so many opportunities for our students to succeed after high school graduation. And so I want everyone to see that this isn't just an investment now in students, it's an it's an investment in the future per state.

SPEAKER_03 10:25

And you know, this is an event on the calendar that we've carved out a week for. But what I would expect at the district level is that the relationships are formed already, that we've had conversations. And I think the worst thing that we can do is make an introduction and then have an ask. I'd rather have the relationship built and then be able to come in and say, here are the things that we've talked about, or here are the priorities that exist for us. And those are going to be different in each district. But again, to see it with your own eyes, to hear the voices of the teachers and and to be able to experience that brings it all home.

SPEAKER_04 10:55

Thank you. So I appreciate these weekly events, and there are other kind of themes and priorities that we uplift and we kind of celebrate, but they go away. And so I I would invite us to consider examples of success where uh an interaction that a legislator and an educator have had in a current or past visit translates into something tangible. Um do you have any of those recollections, Amos Allen? Is there an example that we can really kind of lean into to see how time spent in a school translates into policy?

SPEAKER_00 11:38

Absolutely. Um here in Guilford County, um, it has been beneficial for elected officials on all levels to get behind the recently passed bond referendum because we saw the needs of our schools, HVA systems that were old and dated, um, floors and ceilings that were um collapsing and falling apart. And so it kind of galvanized the community, particularly the um political class, to get behind the grassroots effort to pass a bond referendum. And we were successful in doing that to the tune of about $1.7 billion recently. When we talk about education across the state, though, I think one of the things that we have talked about so much is raising teacher pay that we have overlooked the fact that teachers are often going into buildings that are too cold or too hot, and that we need, like Guilford County has done, to do a statewide referendum for buildings and infrastructure and technological advances. I have grandchildren who I can just hand my phone and they can whiz all over the internet, yet when they go into their classrooms, many of our children don't have the technology that allows them to use that technological brain that they have developed. So to go in and to see the lack of uh resources is beneficial to us as well as to see what greater resources will do for our children.

SPEAKER_04 12:56

Thank you, Amos. Thank you. Um I'm hearing a thread that we can hopefully pull on just a little bit and that centers around relationships. And so one visit can turn into multiple visits, and a legislator's visit to a school can be reciprocal, where educators can find their way into where our our elected officials are working. So maybe Don, I'd like to give you a chance to weigh in on this first. Um can you highlight an example of a deep partnership that was founded on multiple opportunities to work together and build the trust that allows for a long-term relationship to produce outcomes?

SPEAKER_03 13:40

And I think the best result is bi-directional. So the benefit works in both ways. So I've had uh opportunities to be able to serve on committees at the state level and do things locally, where we had elected officials that came in. But what that can turn into are examples where uh a member of the General Assembly may be writing a bill and they'll share that with me and ask for feedback. And that means a lot to me to be able to give them feedback, not to get credit and a name announced anywhere, but to know that the superintendent's perspective and it's not just me, there are ultra other individuals that are involved as well, but to be able to give feedback in terms of what unintended consequences may be the way that it's written, or does it really hit the mark in terms of what what the intention was originally? So both those kinds of things are critical because ultimately when those laws are passed, then those are things that we have to implement and we live by. So to be able to have a voice and to be able to work uh collaboratively on that means a great deal.

SPEAKER_04 14:33

Indeed. So, Don, um you kind of set the table for uh a short conversation I hope we can have that is really practical. And if we can offer advice uh to educators across North Carolina as well as uh legislators who are participating in this week of learning together, what are some practical ways that you can start with a visit and continue it into uh something that that has the potential to build into a partnership? In other words, how can we take this week and turn it into something uh more sustainable?

SPEAKER_00 15:04

Sure, I've I'll chime in briefly there. Um as um was pointed out earlier, uh, this is an opportunity for us to engage our um uh to build build a relationship that engages our students in the civic process in this country and in our state. Uh to have us come in and talk to history classes and uh civics classes and to let them know uh how these things play out, how the vote matters, and how um being an active part of what goes on in your community at the elective level, learning even at 16 and 17 years old to prepare to vote for at 18 years old, that's very important. And again, briefly, one of the other things that I will point out that happens here in Guilford County, North Carolina, is that we have a legislative day that the legislators, Alan, I, and the others who are part of uh uh the legislative delegation uh from Guilford County, we meet with our school officials. We take a day and we sit down and we ask them, what is your legislative agenda? As Superintendent uh pointed out, it's very important that we don't go to Raleigh and make bills that are disconnected from the on-the-ground impact. So things like legislative days and inviting us in to classrooms, even after this week, those things are important.

SPEAKER_04 16:21

Thank you, Amos. Anything else to add, Alan?

SPEAKER_02 16:24

Yeah, I think the um open door policy uh, as Amos has mentioned, with the one day out of the year that we meet with leadership in Guilford County Schools is huge. Also going in to uh meet with the principals and the teachers. Uh, you know, I just recently attended an ROTC event and uh met with the principals, met with the leadership there, and got to meet with some of the students, and uh one of the students had uh actually from my district had been uh in the chamber as a shadow of mine for the season. So I think those are are good working relationships to gain, to get to know the kids, to get to know the principals, and get to know some of the teachers and students as a whole, I think is is very special.

SPEAKER_04 17:16

Yeah, thank you. So, Alan and Amos, I we really appreciate you taking the time and and coming um to this beautiful school at Weaver Academy to sit with us and and learn and share. And so um another key theme that I'd like for us to really dig into here is advocacy. Um in a democracy, we have an opportunity to um voice our preferences and to seek information that allows us to have the most powerful and deep perspectives. So if you could give advice to North Carolina citizens who either have an impression of what public education is uh or are curious to know more about what public education is and how it how it exists in our state, what are some practical ways that people can advocate for or seek out information uh to become better advocates for public education in their communities?

SPEAKER_00 18:14

I don't think that uh the old trod and true method of volunteering in schools, I don't think that that uh is is harmful at all. In fact, I think it's very beneficial to give a an accurate view of what's happening in our schools. Going to football games, basketball games, being on the campuses and being around the educational environments, I think gives us a different perspective as to what happens, or even supporting those nonprofits that support our schools. Uh that's that's very important as well. Uh to make sure that we are part of the success of our students and not just uh digesting and regurgitating negative negative media profiles of our schools because in every school in this state, students are learning. Uh, do we have issues? Absolutely. Do we have to fix those issues? Absolutely, but we can't let those issues overshadow what's happening when wonderful teachers uh like we have here and a dedicated superintendent like we have here uh go in and take one of the most important jobs in our society, and that is to educate future generations of leaders.

SPEAKER_04 19:20

Thank you, Amos.

SPEAKER_02 19:22

I would say boots on the ground with volunteerism. Uh you I think if memory serves me correctly, across the state there's about 1.5, 1.6 million students, and uh here in Guilford County alone, upwards of uh 65, 66, 7,000 students currently active. Um the more you can volunteer, there's always opportunities, whether it's uh coaching, um whether it's in the classroom, whether it's going on your field trips, um just be flexible. Be out there if you're a parent, if you're a grandparent, uh get involved. Um the kids will remember it once they become older adults, as we are.

SPEAKER_04 20:09

I can't think of a better uh observation to end this episode than that one, Alan. So thank you very much for coming. Rachel, thank you. Thank you. Amos and Don, thank you for joining us today. After the break, this week's final word. As in many other states, state-level elected officials in North Carolina play a crucial role in shaping policies that affect communities across the state, particularly when it comes to local public schools. Nurturing strong relationships between these officials and the communities they serve is essential to fostering collaboration, ensuring transparency, and incorporating diverse perspectives into policymaking. North Carolina Legislators and Schools Week was created with this goal in mind, to strengthen connections between policymakers and school communities by giving legislators the opportunity to experience the day-to-day reality of public education firsthand. This year, North Carolina Legislators and Schools Week will take place during the week of April 13th, and all members of the North Carolina General Assembly are once again invited to participate. The event provides legislators with the chance to step inside classrooms, walk school halls, and engage directly with the educators, students, and families who bring North Carolina's public schools to life each day. These visits offer a meaningful window into both the successes schools are celebrating and the challenges they're working to overcome. During these school visits, legislators are encouraged to observe what it currently looks like to serve students in our local public schools and to engage in conversations with teachers, students. And parents. These interactions will provide valuable insight into how education policies and funding decisions play out in practice. Because North Carolina is home to a wide range of communities, these experiences can look very different from district to district, making first hand engagement all the more important. Issues such as resource allocation, staffing challenges, and student support needs often come into sharper focus when viewed through the lens of the local school communities. Education policy should always be aimed at enhancing outcomes for all North Carolina students, each of whom is entitled to a sound basic education under the state constitution. Events like North Carolina Legislators in Schools Week can help create space for collaboration between educators and elected officials, allowing both groups to share perspectives, identify innovative solutions, and better understand the real-world impact of policy decisions. This exchange can lead to more informed, effective, and sustainable approaches to strengthening public education. Perhaps most importantly, North Carolina Legislators and Schools Week helps build trust. When legislators take time to engage directly with school communities, it sends a clear message that local voices matter. These relationships help bridge the gap between policymakers and the people they represent, reinforcing confidence in both our local public schools and the leaders responsible for supporting them. North Carolina Legislators and Schools Week is an opportunity to connect, listen, and learn. By intentionally building relationships grounded in understanding and collaboration, school communities and legislators can work together to advance policies that reflect local needs and strengthen educational opportunities statewide. Let's use these partnerships to help move our schools closer to their potential, because they absolutely can be the best in the nation. Thank you for taking time with us to learn and think about education. That's all for today, and we'll see you next week.