On August 16, 2023, Republicans in the North Carolina General Assembly voted to override the veto of Governor Roy Cooper (D) on Senate Bill 49, misnomered a “Parents’ Bill of Rights.” On the same day, the legislature overrode a second veto on a bill that bans gender-affirming care for individuals under eighteen and a third on a bill to prevent trans women from competing in women’s sports.
Taken together, the legislation represents a fundamental entrenchment of authoritarianism in North Carolina and a step backward in the fight for human rights and the rights of students.
The “Parents’ Bill of Rights,” which is now law, provides mechanisms for the notification of parents due to a change in a student’s preferred name or pronouns, a method for parents to inspect all classroom materials and file an objection to those materials, and makes reproductive health education only accessible to students if their parents “opt-in” to the curriculum. (Previously, students received reproductive health education unless their parents opted out.)
These changes are dangerous. They embody a decline in the rights of students — the right to be themselves without asking permission from their parents, the right to learn the truth without being indoctrinated at the behest of their parents, and the right to access accurate information about safe and healthy reproduction without their parents having to “opt in.”
The bills the legislature enacted on August 16 endanger transgender youth in the state, subjecting them to potential abuse from transphobic parents and potentially leading them to develop serious mental health issues. And for a demographic that already struggles with mental health and self-harm, these policies will have real adverse impacts on these youths.
As conditions for trans youth deteriorate in our state, the legislature is moving backward on actual rights in education — namely, the rights of students to access quality education and not to be shot in school.
North Carolina ranks 48th among states in per-pupil education spending, ahead of only Idaho, Utah, and Arizona. Its teachers are drastically underpaid and overworked, leading to an extreme statewide teacher shortage and high turnover rate. The state’s reticence toward funding schools is driving discontent amongst teachers, especially since its most recent budget included higher pay increases for less experienced teachers.
The dearth of funding for state public schools is causing students to receive lower-quality education than almost any other state. According to the Department of Public Instruction, 34% of N.C. public schools received a grade of D or F for the 2021-2022 school year. At North Mecklenburg High School, only 27% of students achieved proficiency on state exams that year.
At the same time, students have been stripped of the right to be safe in their schools. On March 30, 2023, the General Assembly overrode Governor Cooper’s veto of a bill that made it legal to purchase pistols in the state without a permit. Months later, a handgun was used in the deadly shooting of a faculty member at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, plunging the campus into chaos for hours and leaving students fearing for their lives.
The regression in gun safety laws in the state makes our fear all the more justified during lockdown drills, which trigger our generational trauma from the epidemic of gun violence that has plagued us since elementary school.
In 2024, North Carolina voters must strip the Republicans of their supermajority in the General Assembly, giving Democrats a governing majority and electing Josh Stein as governor. A failure to do so will only lead to more erosion of equal rights in the state, making it feel even more like a catastrophic washout. 🆅
The opinions expressed within this piece are solely the author's and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of North Mecklenburg High School or the Viking Voice.