By Gary Pearce
Talking About Politics

RALEIGH (March 26, 2026) – In 15 years as boss of the Senate, Phil Berger has done incalculable damage to North Carolina’s public schools and to our state’s future.

The day he conceded, Wake County’s school board was wrestling with – and rejecting – budget cuts that would have eliminated 130 special-education teachers.

That’s just one consequence of Berger cutting taxes, starving public-education budgets, and shifting hundreds of millions of dollars into private-school vouchers – a backdoor return to segregated schools.

Last year, he blocked a budget passed by House Republicans and Democrats, with Governor Josh Stein’s support, which included decent pay raises for teachers.

Berger claims his tax cuts made North Carolina what it is today.

No, what made North Carolina an economic miracle was decades of bipartisan investments and improvements in a public-education system that prepared young people to succeed in a changing and challenging world.

For decades to come, millions of young North Carolinians – and all of us – will pay a price for Berger’s assault on public education.

This appeared first at Talking About Politics, a blog maintained by Gary Pearce and Carter Wrenn, and is republished here with permission.