N.C. General Assembly sets aside funds for Teach for America

CLARIFICATION: An early version of this story said that 80 percent of Teach for America corps members leave the teaching profession after three years. That statistic conflicted with the numbers provided by Teach for America.

The N.C. General Assembly recently allocated $6 million annually for the next two years to grow the state’s Teach For America program — but some in the education world have mixed feelings about the decision.

The move follows in the footsteps of Texas, South Carolina and Mississippi, all of which provide significant state support for Teach For America.

Teach For America recruits college graduates to teach for two years in underperforming and poor districts. The program’s teachers currently make up less than 1 percent of North Carolina’s teaching force.

Robyn Schryer Fehrman, executive director of Teach For America in Eastern North Carolina, said the rise in funding would allow the program to expand further into key low-income areas statewide.

“Demand from our core members in districts that are historic placement areas (for Teach For America) currently exceeds supply,” Fehrman said. She said Teach For America would also begin maintaining a presence in school districts in southeastern North Carolina and in the Triad over the next two years.

UNC-CH has ranked among the top five large universities contributing to the program nationwide over the last two years. Seventy-five 2012 UNC-CH graduates entered the program last year.

Leo Lopez, a 2012 graduate now teaching high school social studies through the program in Cincinnati, Ohio, said he wasn’t considering an education career path until senior year, when the program and its mission caught his eye. “I liked that it’s a big network — it’s part of a movement,” Lopez said.

But Julian Vasquez Heilig, an education professor at the University of Texas-Austin, said states shouldn’t grant limited resources to support a program that already receives funding from many foundations and external sources.

“In times of tight budgets, Teach For America is awash in money,” he said.

In the most recent budget, North Carolina phased out the N.C. Teaching Fellows scholarship, cut K-12 teacher tenure and stopped bonuses for teachers with master’s degrees.

“We’re throwing out a home-grown program (like N.C. Teaching Fellows) for the sake of this national program that doesn’t necessarily fit with the context of our state,” said Paul Fitchett, an education professor at UNC-Charlotte.

Heilig said several states, including Nevada and Minnesota, have recently vetoed or discontinued state funding for Teach For America. He said they realized that the program’s teachers are unlikely to remain in the teaching profession for long.

“Teach For America perpetuates this revolving door,” he said. “While (school districts) are cutting experienced teachers, they’re bringing in temporary, cheap labor.”

Heilig added that Teach For America should require participants to make four- or five-year commitments. But Fehrman said N.C. programs will use some new funding to improve retention.

Lopez said his Teach For America experience has led him to consider staying in the teaching profession — and he said he knows of several others in his corps in Cincinnati who feel the same way.

“It has exposed me to the field of education and … made me a lot more passionate about (improving) those disparities.”

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