Leandro case tests NC on equal schools
When the Leandro school funding case was filed in 1994, it sought more state funding for five poor rural districts.
But nearly three decades later the crisis caused by state neglect has spread statewide.
As North Carolina children return to the classroom, their schools are reporting a shortage of more than 4,400 teachers and overall staff vacancies that top 11,000. The COVID pandemic has added to a national teacher shortage, but the effects have been especially strong in North Carolina, where teachers were already quitting over low pay and poor treatment from the Republican-led General Assembly.
These were the pressures bearing down on