Mo Green for NC
Democrat Mo Green was formerly general counsel of North Carolina’s largest public school system, Charlotte-Mecklenburg, and went on to serve as superintendent of Guilford County Schools.
When it comes to state-level races in the swing state of North Carolina, much of the focus has been on the governor’s race between Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein and Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson. Robinson is especially controversial for his opposition to abortion under any circumstance and his comments disparaging LGBTQ people. But the election for superintendent of public instruction has received much less attention, despite the potential impact on public education.
The superintendent race mirrors the contest for governor. It is a classic contest between a mainstream Democrat with a strong record as an educator and a far-fringe Republican. The Democrat, Maurice “Mo” Green, was formerly general counsel of the state’s largest public school system, Charlotte-Mecklenburg, and went on to serve as superintendent of Guilford County Schools. Republican Michele Morrow disparages public schools, despite obtaining her nursing degree from UNC-Chapel Hill, a public university.
Morrow gained notice last week after a video taken after she attended the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol resurfaced, showing her calling on President Trump to “enact the Insurrection Act” and “put[] the Constitution to the side.”
You might think that Green would be leading, but the most recent poll from Carolina Partnership for Reform shows a virtual tie. The poll, published back in May, showed Green at 43 percent with Morrow trailing at 40 percent. Sixteen percent of those polled were undecided. This is the first—and so far only—poll conducted on the race since the March primary.
Lacking experience in public education, Morrow chooses instead to emphasize her role as a homeschool teacher. According to her campaign website, she started by homeschooling her daughter, who has learning difficulties, and went on to help homeschool other children. She taught high schoolers in “micro-schools,” which are referred to on her campaign website as “a ‘mid-point’ between traditional schooling and homeschooling.”
There isn’t a standard definition of a microschool, but they are typically small, experiential learning-based communities, with lessons that are specifically tailored to individual students’ needs and abilities. Most are run as either homeschooling centers or private schools, but they vary widely in their implementation depending on the laws of the state or county where they operate. The Micro Schools Network lists one microschool in North Carolina, while National School Choice Week lists at least three.
The main selling point of microschools is the ability for parents and their children to choose what’s relevant for their children to learn, free from the restrictions of a standardized curriculum set by the state. This makes them especially appealing to parents with special-needs children, who disproportionately struggle in traditional public schools. However, in North Carolina, these schools (along with other nonpublic schools) aren’t required by law to be accredited, and educators within these schools aren’t required to be licensed. Morrow taught high school level biology, chemistry, Spanish, and civics, but it’s not clear if her classes measured up to state or federal educational standards. In fact, Morrow doesn’t mention having any qualifications to teach in North Carolina, nor does she mention if the microschools she taught in were accredited.
In North Carolina, microschools aren’t required by law to be accredited, and educators within these schools aren’t required to be licensed.
With such a lack of consistent standards and implementation, it’s unclear if the microschooling model leads to better educational outcomes on a mass scale. Even Daniel Buck, an education and policy associate of the Fordham Institute and a member of Morrow’s School Safety Advisory Board, is skeptical about their efficacy. Moreover, the cost of tuition for many microschools makes them inaccessible to low-income families and families of color, according to a 2019 survey conducted by education nonprofit Bellwether.
Morrow, like many other far-right opponents of public schools, nests her support for homeschooling in a rhetoric of parental rights. She ties parents’ supposed lack of agency in the public school system to “government overreach” and teachings about race and LGBTQ topics. She encourages parents to “take back” control over their children’s education, positioning parental rights as under siege from big-government bureaucracy and “special interests.” This rhetoric creates a clear “us vs. them” dynamic, pitting parents against teachers and the public school system itself. This might explain why she’s felt comfortable referring to public schools as “indoctrination centers” and “socialism centers.”
By contrast, Green has emphasized the importance of working alongside parents, teachers, and the wider community to provide a quality education for all students. In fact, “revering” public school educators is a major pillar of his campaign.
“We have elected officials and those running for office who are calling teachers wicked, and all sorts of really despicable things,” Green told me. “And we need to move away from that. Part of my mindset shift … that I’ve continued in this campaign is to talk about revering educators and being sure that folks understand that it is a noble profession.”
Some of Green’s main priorities while running are the lack of adequate funding, low teacher pay, and increased right-wing attacks on teachers. He has defended the education of students about race, LGBTQ topics, and other subjects related to diversity in schools, citing the need to teach “accurate history” so students will be prepared to “make our state and country even better going forward.”
The one position that Green and Morrow’s campaigns seem to share is school safety. Both agree on the need to work with law enforcement to reduce crime and violence. But while Morrow focuses primarily on discipline and authority, Green takes a more holistic approach. Green has touted a four-pronged plan for making schools safer, which includes increasing mental health counseling for students, enhancing safety features within school facilities, building relationships with local law enforcement, and developing character within students so they learn how to treat each other.
“We need to be at a place where folks and students feel welcome, regardless of their background, regardless of whether we may agree with all of the life choices that certain folks are making, that they do feel welcome and safe in those school environments,” Green said.
Morrow has a history of comments that are not only controversial, but also betray a lack of understanding about state and federal law promoting mainstreaming of special-needs children. When she ran for District 9 of the Wake County Board of Education in 2022, she said during a candidate forum that special-needs students should be taught separately from their peers, as “those special education students are never going to be able to compete with those gifted and talented students.” Reporting on the Board of Education race, WRAL added context to her comments, writing:
Federal special education law requires schools to try first to educate special education children in general education classrooms and to separate special education students only when the general education classroom becomes an obstacle to their learning. Special education students can also be gifted and talented students. The “exceptional children” term in North Carolina includes both groups.
Green’s campaign has highlighted similar comments from Morrow as a way to demonstrate her lack of respect for the public school system. Morrow has brushed off these kinds of criticisms before, accusing her liberal critics of “slander,” but she has not addressed the Green campaign directly as of this writing. Perhaps as a response to these criticisms, she has seemingly tried to soften her messaging to appear more moderate (at least on her website). It remains to be seen if that moderate shift will continue as the election draws closer.
Morrow’s campaign did not return a request for comment.
