Tar Heel Heist: How the Charter School Industry is Hijacking Public Education
North Carolina offers a harrowing preview of what American classrooms might look like under President Trump
If the American Dream is still alive – the one that includes a good job and a house with a yard, kids, and a two-car garage – you can see it taking shape in Wake County in the heart of the state of North Carolina. Signs of surging prosperity are everywhere this morning as I make my way to West Lake Middle School in Apex, NC, on the outskirts of Raleigh.
What were once sleepy two-lane country roads are now teaming with impatient commuters, school busses, and mini-vans. New housing developments, shopping centers, and office buildings are transforming the rolling Piedmont landscape.
Wake County is home to five of the fastest growing cities in the Tar Heel State, which is the state with the nation's fastest growth in economic output in 2015 at 13.4 percent.
At West Lake Middle this morning, cars and busses in the drop-off lane back up out to the main road, where commuter traffic pushes impatiently to get by. I angle my car to a visitor spot because I'm not here to drop off a child. I'm here for a protest rally.
The protest is happening because the rising tide of North Carolina's economic resurgence has yet to raise all boats. Outside the school's entrance, a gathering of students, parents, and teachers, many carrying signs declaring they are "All In for Public Schools," listen to a speaker from the state teachers' association call Tar Heel Heist: How the Charter School Industry is Hijacking Public Education | Alternet: