Education Takes Center Stage

NCEA Director Lindalyn Kakadelis spent a busy week responding to media interest in education policy. The charter school report, Innovation in Education, was the topic of interviews with Charlotte World and the NC Family Policy Council radio show, “Family Policy Matters,” which airs on nearly 20 stations. It was politics and education policy that interested Charlotte’s Fox 18 and the Medill News Service. To Fox 18, Kakadelis commented on approaches discussed in the debate between Gov. Mike Easley and GOP challenger, Sen. Patrick Ballantine. The Medill interview focused on Sen. John Kerry’s claim that the No Child Left Behind law is an unfunded mandate that, if fully funded, would result in more teachers and tutors in North Carolina. Kakadelis told MNS the education establishment might think it doesn’t receive enough money, but that NCLB is about requiring proficiency in students and accountability from schools, not money. Meantime, Kakadelis is attending the Core Leader Training Seminar at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Next week she continues the fall tour with a stop at one of the charter schools featured in the new policy report. Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy in Rutherford County serves 350 students in grades 6-12 and uses a rigorous curriculum based in logic, grammar and rhetoric.