Green launches new Parent Advisory Council

Parents across North Carolina can now apply to serve on a new statewide advisory council, part of an effort Superintendent of Public Instruction Mo Green announced June 4.

The NC Department of Public Instruction said the council will bring together parent leaders aligned to the state’s eight State Board of Education regions to advise the superintendent and to support implementation of the state’s Strategic Plan. The agency said the goal is to “elevate informed family voice, strengthen trust and ensure that those closest to students play an active role in shaping the future of public education.”

“As we continue to implement our Strategic Plan, it is critical that we engage families not just as stakeholders, but as informed partners,” said Green in a statement. “This Council will help us build a strong group of leaders who understand our system and can provide meaningful input to improve outcomes for students.”

Applications opened June 4 and must be submitted by Sept. 15. From that pool, Green will appoint 16 to 24 members, with representation from each of the eight regions. Selected members will take part in a virtual orientation on school governance and funding, state and local education systems, accountability measures, and Strategic Plan priorities.

The council will begin meeting quarterly in November, mostly online, and members will serve two-year terms.

“It’s a welcome sight to see parents getting a seat at the table,” said Bryce Fiedler, director of the Carolinas Academic Leadership Network at the John Locke Foundation. “They are the single most important voice in shaping their children’s education. On a practical level, their involvement could also help bring a greater focus on academics to the state’s Strategic Plan — an area that received insufficient attention when it was published last year.”

The idea of a parent advisory group is not new. In 2022, former superintendent Catherine Truitt, a Republican, created a 48-member Parent Advisory Commission drawn from around 3,000 applicants, with each member serving a two-year term. That panel reserved seats by school type in each region: two traditional public school parents, one charter parent, one private school parent, one homeschool parent, and one at large public school parent.

Green’s council includes no such breakdown. The department’s announcement describes representation by region only and defines “parent” broadly to include guardians and other primary caregivers, with no mention of charter, private, or homeschool families.

District superintendents and charter and lab school leaders are “encouraged to help identify and support strong candidates,” and applicants may note whether their local public school unit nominated them, but no seats are set aside for parents outside the traditional public schools.

The school-choice seats were the most disputed feature of Truitt’s commission. In March 2022, Democrats on the State Board of Education criticized her for including too many parents from charters, private, and home schools. Truitt countered that two-thirds of her panel was made up of traditional public school parents, and that public schools need to hear from families who choose other options.

“If we’re going to be the first choice for families, then we need to understand why some families are choosing not to send their kids to us,” Truitt told Carolina Journal at the time.

Green, the former Guilford County Schools superintendent who defeated Republican Michele Morrow in 2024, has said he wants to expand school choice within the public system.

“Green launches new Parent Advisory Council” was originally published on www.carolinajournal.com.