North Carolina Now; North Carolina Now Episode from 08/18/1997

It's Monday August 18th. Tonight our state's historically black universities seeking their share of the financial Hajji in North Carolina. Now Hello I'm Marina but right thank you for sharing to start of your work week with us and for many of you the start of your school year as grade schools high schools and many colleges across North Carolina kicked off the first day of classes today. And since this was the first day of school our guest tonight will be state school superintendent Dr. Mike Ward will be here to talk about the changes taking place in our state's education system. Also tonight a focus on higher education and the efforts of our state's historically black

universities to get their share of state funding. Plus we'll take you to win haven a nature refuge in our state's largest city. But up first tonight the struggle for financial equality at our state's historically black universities as the General Assembly continues to hammer out a state budget agreement. There is one item African-American lawmakers say has been overlooked. It's funding for historically black public colleges and universities. Earlier this session some lawmakers asked for an additional thirty five million dollars to help black schools. Tonight in this report by Sonya Williams we examine the need for additional funding from the perspective of one of the state's historically black universities North Carolina Central University is undergoing many costly changes from the current construction projects throughout campus to the kinds of students they recruit to Sir Julius Chambers says the university is raising its admission standards in order to compete with the larger universities.

One of the goals was to DSH about 7:40 to a man hundred and fifty. And we have concrete been able to increase the average over 200 points over the past three years. Another thing we've looked at is develop a program to interested us in moving into graduate and professional schools. But these higher standards have come with a price drop by about 400 students. As a result the university lost over three million dollars in state funding and 29 faculty positions state funding for public universities is determined by using the number of students enrolled full time it's called a full time equivalent enrollment formula and leaders at historically black universities say it's unfair. Our budgets are based on

and you know as an abstract proposition where there are things to be unequal that might work things out and just stop. How they starting line assuming that we haven't had the problems we've had over the years in terms of funding and say that we're going to use a neutral allocation really puts us at a disadvantage and we're suffering that now. But the result of a private study that examined the equity of funding for the state's 16 public universities concluded that five historically white universities were underfunded and that the historically black schools were overfunded. Now lawmakers are allocating an extra twenty one million dollars to these white universities. Critics though say the study did not take into account the decades of discrimination and underfunding. Black Colleges endured. We have supported that is the HBCU the 21 million dollar for operation to bring in five institutions because we know they have a shortfall in every did need the

money. What we would like to see is some a kind of a corporation for these three so you know not necessarily based on a difference in operating budgets over the past two or three years but the difference in operating budgets over the past 30 and 40 years which is in life and they're substantial. More than one I want to you know Representative Mickey Michaud and other black lawmakers pushed for dishing on funding for black colleges and universities this session. We tried to get funding for the same type of funding for those institutions that they are offering the other five institutions. We seem to have hit a note of sympathy empathy if you will and we were told that if we could find take money from somewhere else that has the possibility of getting it done. But when you start robbing Peter to pay Paul when people began to get up in arms about it. Well actually the capital budget the black colleges universities fared much better than did the

other ones. I think the board. Governors recognized that there were priority needs and they addressed a lot of those on the House side of the budget we chose to adopt those recommendations as were given to us by the board of governors between some of the schools both black and white that had been traditionally maybe underfunded to some degree. And there was a tent made within the last two or three years to help them to keep some of their reversions. So I think there's an attempt to do that allowing certain schools to keep there were versions or unspent money from one budget period to the next has been the state's effort to help underfunded universities. Russell says lawmakers relied on the board of governors priority list regarding funding for public universities. Since the board is ultimately responsible for making sure the schools are run well. As to those problems with the funding 20 30 40 years ago that is something that I understand that a commission of years ago to see what we needed to do to change that. And while there may be some things right now I think the funding is certainly an issue

that we'll continue to look at to make sure that all of our universities they can be Michaud says that unless extraordinary efforts are made black colleges and universities may never catch up with historically white schools. He adds those extra efforts should begin with alumni of these universities. Community leaders and the state. It may be too late to do something. But I think we have ample opportunity. Always an arrow to come back in a short session and provide a specific means for providing these HBCU. With enough fun to begin to move toward catching up. Meanwhile North Carolina Central and other historically black schools are fighting to become more competitive institutions. And while they say they cannot dwell on the past. University leaders also want all lawmakers to realize the history of inequality cannot be ignored. But we have endured over the years

and I'm sure we will will continue to do so. But if it's a challenge during the period that we are dealing with this kind of budget allocation. None of us can ever forget that we didn't have the same appropriation that many of the other stores have. Some lawmakers were also pushing for additional funding for us the pan broke. Historically Native American University still had a conversation with state school superintendent Mike Ward. But first let's get a summary of the events making news around the state by checking in with Michel Louis. Good evening Mitch. Thanks Marina. Good evening everyone. A possible bailout for tobacco farmers tops our news tonight. Congress is considering a multibillion dollar cash infusion to help prepare tobacco farmers for a shrinking market. Lawmakers have drafted two plans one calls for buying out tobacco farmers who can no longer make a profit and compensating others who lose money. Another option carries a price tag of more than 17

billion dollars. Under that plan as much as 250 million dollars a year would go to rural tobacco dependent communities and 100 million dollars a year would go to training displaced tobacco workers. The plans are designed to deal with what some see as a potential regional crisis if the multibillion dollar tobacco settlement becomes law. The claims of shoddy workmanship have led to the resignation of a construction consultant overseeing the expansion of East Carolina University's football stadium consultant Wallace Bagley described the new upper deck project as a circus. Bagley says he's worried about the eventual safety of a concrete structure towering 130 feet above the ground and tended to hold eight thousand friends jumping up and down. A spokesman for Davidson Jones beers the construction company working on the stadium says the problems are typical of large construction jobs and blames the problems on trying to jam a year's worth of work into 10 months. The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries announced today that it's joining a lawsuit with the North Carolina Fisheries

Association over the federal summer flounder quotas. The two groups say they are suing the U.S. Department of Commerce after numerous talks and meetings to ease restrictions on North Carolina fisherman failed. The director of the Division of Marine Fisheries Preston Pate says that he supports a coast wide management system for migratory fish but adds that North Carolina has not been treated fairly. A state Superior Court judge has ordered the state revenue department to begin refunding the now repealed and tangibles taxes by September 15th to the people who pay the tax under protest. Judge Howard Manning Jr. directed the one hundred twenty four million dollars in principle be refunded in order to save the state interest costs which run about one million dollars a month. The General Assembly last month approved refunds with entries for people who pay the tax under protest. Between 1990 and 1994. The Guilford County school system will now require all school volunteers to submit to a new comprehensive screening process. Anyone in the volunteer pool including parents must now provide

two character references and agree to let school officials check for criminal convictions. The new program beefs up the previous screening policy which only occasionally check the background of volunteers. School officials say they are responding to a recommendation from the Institute of Government that all school systems develop a volunteer screening process. And now for a look at tomorrow's weather there will be some relief from the 90 degree temperatures almost the entire state will stay in the 80s. The wind will only hit the upper 70s partly sunny to partly cloudy skies are expected statewide. Wilmington is the only area with a chance for an afternoon shower. In business news Nations Bank officially opened its doors in Iowa today. Last year the Charlotte based bank purchased boatman's shit bank shares incorporated of St. Louis boatman's had 23 Bank offices in Iowa. Analysts say Nation's Bank is likely to next focus on expanding in larger boatman's markets such as Kansas City the nation's bank is the fifth largest bank in the country. And now for a look at what happened on Wall Street today.

School children from across the state return to the books today as classes began for a majority of North Carolina students. The classes began amid a various changes taking place in our state's educational system. The implementation of the ABC as a plan has led to the

suspension of some principals. There are new kindergarten requirements in place and for the first time ever charter schools are opening their doors. Here to talk about those changes and what we can expect for the coming year is state school superintendent Dr. Mike Ward Doctor Ward Welcome back to North Carolina now. Thanks. It's good to be back. Let's start first with the ABC ease of education and that these suspensions that have resulted with those principles. Give us some background on that. Well the APC's plan was adopted by the state board in the General Assembly last year it's a program that looks very closely at the progress schools are making during the course of the year. If a school. Performs very poorly on the basis of standardized testing and other measures. There's the possibility that a principal can be suspended if that principal has been in the school more than two years. In this case there were seven schools that fell into that particular category in the state 15 schools over a designated sufficiently low performing that they would need special assistance from the

state for those principals who were suspended. There's an appeal process that can be followed. But but in essence what the legislation says is that when schools are performing at a particularly low level there are some pretty strenuous consequences. The flip side is that we had some marvelous success stories out of this first year of the ABC 35 to 40 schools across the state were designated as particularly high flying schools. And the good news is that those schools are all over the place geographically. They represent counties that have high wealth counties that aren't quite as well. The school systems of our kinds of socio economic characteristics schools of are very different attributes all kinds of schools demonstrated excellence in this program it's a real statement that any school can achieve excellence with with the right ingredients in place and the teachers in

the schools that do well get a financial bonus. That's correct. In addition to those 35 to 40 who were noted for particular levels of evidence of excellence There are also about 35 percent of our schools in the state that that exceeded their performance expectations. Fifty seven percent of our schools met or exceeded their performance expectations. Teachers in those schools that have done particularly well get a thousand dollar bonus. What's hoped to be gained from suspending the principals and the low performing schools. Well I think the legislature and and acting that part of the legislation intended to send a strong message that there are consequences when schools consistently are unable to help children make the progress that they are expected to make. It's one of the particularly strong consequences in the legislation. If you think about it we see news virtually every day of the CEO in

businesses who are removed from their positions and instances when the company as a whole fails to make the progress that stakeholders think it ought to be making. And I guess there's a parallel in this case in the minds of the General Assembly comes down to accountability. Let's move on to the kindergarten program now you have some new requirements in place for some gifted four year olds. The legislature this summer passed a provision that would allow a few four year olds to go ahead and enter kindergarten. The legislation is pretty specific that if a kindergarten or a youngster is going to enter kindergarten at the age of 4 they have to be performing at a pretty high level in terms of ability and achievement and motivation for school. We recently adopted the requirements that youngsters have to meet in order to be eligible and they require testing and and assessment of the youngsters readiness for school but it will provide a window of opportunity for some four year

olds to enter kindergarten early. All right let's move on now to charter schools how is that going to change the face of education in North Carolina. The state is opening 34 new charter schools across counties at the beginning of the school year. These are schools that have been proposed by parents teachers other community members as an alternative to the traditional public school and charter schools or public schools also. But they're opening on the basis of a proposal to provide a unique program of study and to try and meet some unique needs in the community. We think that there's there's good potential in charter schools to help our schools find some new ways some creative solutions to some of our most persistent problems. That's the potential of Charter Schools Superintendent Ward you were here about a month ago we talked about the concern that some education leaders had with the budget not being finished in time for the start of the school year that I just I know I went oh yeah that's right.

Is this causing any problems. Well obviously we need a budget in place with schools opening around the state and the legislature still in session. It leaves school leaders in a position of great uncertainty about their final budgets and how to base hiring and secure new equipment and to make purchases. All of that needs to be known before they open the school doors. And we've had some reassurance from leaders in the general assembly that school systems ought to go ahead and proceed to do the things they need to do to open schools. But there's still that level of uncertainty. The good news is that even at this late stage there's very little in the budget process that relates to schools that hasn't already been resolved most of the issues relate to some other some other part of government so. So we have a fairly clear idea of where the budget seems likely to head for public schools. We just need that final word. All right with Superintendent Mike what I want to thank you for your time this evening. I look forward to having you back again soon.

Thanks look forward to it. Thank you. If you are a fan of gorgeous gardens and the wildlife that inhabit small city parks there's a very special place in Charlotte that you'll want to visit. Producer Patti Meredith takes us to Wayne haven in this piece narrated by Robin Minnie Etta in a quiet residential neighborhood just three miles from the heart of downtown Charlotte. There's a garden and bird sanctuary known as wing Haven brick walls enclosed three acres of trees shrubs flowers ponds and

fountains as well as visiting squirrels rabbits and birds. Since 1930 over one hundred and thirty species of birds have been sighted it when Haven built is the home of newlyweds Eddie and Elizabeth Clarkson when Haven was designed by Elizabeth while she was still in Texas and he built his bride's dream home and brought her to Charlotte in the spring of nine hundred twenty seven The surprise was when we pulled up in front of me. There was no tree. In fact it was a small Korea at the back but you couldn't see it. And all of these lots were just regulated by the day after they moved in. Elizabeth started work on her garden. She never stopped. Slowly they acquired more land. Slowly they built and collected and it was during a year long illness when a bedridden Elizabeth spent much of her time on the back terrace that she began her enchanting relationship with birds. A relationship that soon became a

life mission. In this early 1980s interview Elizabeth tells the story of the special blue bird named Tommy. Time and ever slept at Saturday night and one even when he had babies and one of the columnists that you know about him said that I was in an old fashioned double bed in Tennessee and he slept Roget sister holds a couple of. Here's the link on the labyrinth of essential information. He'd never slept outside The Night Listener and he never took a bad outside I have tin bird bands but he would tell you that I did have a suit in my bathroom and he didn't even get a lampshade and shaking himself until he got drunk. Anything that you had was because time is too light. In 1070 the Clarksons made a gift of the gardens to the wing Haven foundation. They resided there until Elizabeth's death in 1988.

This spring marked wing Haven 70th year and the first ever major capital campaign the capital campaign has three purposes to do the restoration that's needed at this time to expand and enhance the education and outreach programs to have an influence in the community and to provide for an increase in the endowment funds so that the garden will be assured of these repairs as they are needed in the future. The annual operating budget which comes from members contributions and the proceeds from the sales in the shops is not adequate to. And hence the repairs that need to be done now. Today the foundation maintains the home the gardens and a gift shop. But most importantly it continues to keep We haven a sanctuary where nesting birds playful rabbits and hungry mallards find welcome shelter. When haven is not only a sanctuary for wildlife it's a

peaceful haven for people too. I don't know of a more special place or anywhere in North Carolina or to me really in the country than when Haven is is just so special. We have visitors from other states other countries and you know it's just that it's especially good to have this in a residential area right here near the heart of Charlotte where people can enjoy it and learn more about nature we're very pleased with having our children come in here we have senior citizens coming and it's just a wonderful environment for people to be in and to learn about nature and to enjoy nature. We try to make we have been available to children who might not otherwise have the opportunity to experience a setting like this to learn a little bit about the plant and animal life around them. Just to give them an early taste of an environmental type educational program for them it's just a

wonderland. It was and was I still go out as you walk along the brick paths Elizabeth Clarkson's plan becomes more spectacular arbors Hons a binge placed just where you'd like one to be a verse a fountain. Each turn takes you to a place that special and different from the last and always the eras filled with the songs of birds. Visitors are welcome in the garden Sundays from 2 to 5 Tuesday afternoons from 3 to 5 and Wednesdays from 10 to noon guided tours for groups can also be arranged. When Haven is located at a two forty eight Ridgewood Avenue in Charlotte their phone number is 7 0 4 3 3 1 0 6 6 4. And that wraps up tonight's edition of North Carolina now thank you for sharing part of your evening with us we invite you to join us again tomorrow night when we examine the growing trend of grandparents having to

raise their own grandchildren because the parents for whatever reason are not capable of that responsibility. And Bob Garner takes us to the coast for some beach music. Until then have a great evening. We'll see tomorrow. Good night. ATL ATL up at the ATM ATM ATM.