Student enrollment continues to decline in NC... I have a theory (12-16-2025--Hour2)

What's going on. Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon to three on WBT Radio in Charlotte. And if you want exclusive content like invitations to events, the weekly live stream, my daily show prep with all the links, become a patron, go to vpeteclendershow dot com. Make sure you hit the subscribe button. Get every episode for free right to your smartphone or tablet. And again, thank you so much for your support. Story out of the Charlotte Observer and I mentioned some of this data in the last hour twelve local districts. School districts in the Charlotte area all but one saw a decrease in average daily enrollment between last school year and this school year. New data from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction show. Meanwhile, charter school enrollment continues to grow. Charlott mcklenburg Schools so a decline of about one point seven percent, which equates to about twenty four hundred students a little bit over twenty four hundred students during the first two months. That also means that cms's average daily membership, or the average number of students currently on the rolls at a school on any given day is down to one hundred thirty nine thousand and four to seventy six. That is the lowest it's been since the twenty ten school year twenty ten twenty eleven school year one hundred thirty nine thousand, so the enrollment number hasn't been this low in fifteen years. That could have big implications for district funding because about eighty percent of the state's funding calculations are based on average daily membership or ADM as they call it. The state uses the first two months of enrollment data for any given school year to determine the funding for the following year. The other twenty percent is based on student populations, including what percentage of a district students are low income, they have disabilities, and district characteristics like how big is the district, how wealthy a county is. Statewide, enrollment dropped in one hundred and five of the one hundred and fifteen districts all but so all but ten school districts out of one hundred and fifteen saw a declining student population. That is a total of a little bit more than twenty four thousand total students down, or about one point eight percent, So that's the state wide number, one point eight percent decrease, and that's roughly what CMS saw, a one point seven percent decrease. The Observer says, it's a continuation of a trend. Enrollment has decreased in North Carolina's traditional public schools by over five percent pre pandemic twenty nineteen. Over the same period, enrollment at charter schools and lab schools have increased forty six point six percent, so almost forty seven percent. So you have a lot more parents taking their kids to the charter schools and parents taking their kids out of the public schools, the traditional public schools. Now, there is an argument. Where is it here that that is made. Let's see here. It is from Andrew Dunn's piece at the Charlotte Observer. He says, big city superintendents have started to latch on to a theory here that it's the declining birth rates. Okay, and I saw in one of the articles about the data that that is what CMS is saying, right, it's the declining birth rates, that's the reason, and that can be part of the story. Sure, but in fast growing places like Wake County, Mecklenburg County, and Orange County, families are not disappearing, They're just choosing something else. Now, the Democrats will say it's the Republican's fault at the legislature, it's their fault, but yeah, not really, because they've spent much of the last decade increasing teacher pay every single year, and I know teachers don't believe that that's enough. And this usually whenever I have discussions about teacher pay, which I did not like. I'm we had the call in the last hour from a teacher and she mentioned teacher pay, but we didn't go into that is an argument because this is about something larger than just the individual or specific argument about teacher pay. But it's why I usually will ask if I'm having a discussion with somebody about teacher pay, I will usually ask what is the optimal pay? What is the number? Right, just like at the when you're having a discussion about per pupil funding, what's that optimal number? Because some of the states that spend the most amount of money have the worst outcomes. Have you heard of the Mississippi miracle? Mississippi does not spend more money than Massachusetts, but for some reason, they are now topping the charts across like we used to joke, thank God for Mississippi because they always were at the bottom of the pile, bottom of the list, right, Their test scores were terrible, graduation rates terrible, all of this. But they have now turned around their education system in like a matter of a couple years. How did they do it? It's a miracle, not really. They they went back to what worked. And this is part of the you know, I don't understand sometimes when I do understand, it's like this constant need to like find new ways to teach for example, you know, reading and writing, and they abandoned the phonics model and they went to the whole words model and it didn't work. And when you looked at the research and we covered this, I think it was about two years ago the creator of this pedagogy, this whole words thing, Like there's like no research to back it up, but it took off and there was this craze across the country. Oh this is the next big thing. We all need to do this thing. And it didn't work. Sorry, kids, you can't read, you know. And you know, honestly, I don't know if teacher pay connects to kids not knowing how to do algebra. Right, that's more to me, that sounds more of a policy problem in that if you don't if you don't have the scores to graduate, you should not graduate. But we can't do that anymore, right, we socially promote the kids anyway, and then they go to college and now they they're unprepared for college, and now they're having to put the kids through these remedial math classes. As I went over yesterday, it's obscene, right, That's why I said the model is broken. So yeah, I mean, like that's the math side. Then there's the history side, the civics side. And Andrew wrote about this also in that uh Andrew done at long Leaf Politics longleafpol dot com and he was, you know, talking about and we spoke with him last hour and he was talking about this comment that his daughter made when he asked her, you know what you learned today about Columbus Day or something, and she's like, oh, Columbus was the villain. And if that's the one thing your third grader takes away from a history lesson about Columbus, like, there's something wrong there, right. If that's if that's the headline that Christopher Columbus was a villain. He said, in this piece, North Carolina is still stuck in the assumption that quote unquote experts should decide what children are taught, with parents and legislators relegated to the sidelines, but it ought to be the other way around. He's reading a book, he said, called Rescuing the American Project. One of its main arguments is that a healthy, ordered nationalism, an appropriate love of country, is essential if the United States is going to hold together, right, because it's always been thus, it's been an idea, it's been this concept. Right, there's a thing that makes us American. That doesn't mean pretending we're perfect. It means recognizing that we are a nation with a story that is fundamentally a good one, one that's worth knowing, one that's worth defending, one that's worth teaching, especially at the younger grades, especially at the younger grades. If you start teaching kids that all of this is corrupt, it's inherently systemically bad, they're not going to love their country, and then you're not going to have a country. You know, Stories are powerful. They help us make sense of things, to understand experiences. Stories connect us to the people of our past. While transcending generations. They help us process the meaning of life and our stories are told through images and videos. Preserve your stories with Creative Video. Started in nineteen ninety seven in Minhill, North Carolina. It was the first company to provide this valuable service, converting images, photos and videos into high quality produced slide shows, videos and albums. The trusted, talented and dedicated team at Creative Video will go over all of the details with you to create a perfect project. Satisfaction guaranteed. Drop them off in person or mail them. They'll be ready in a week or two. Memorial videos for your loved ones, videos for rehearsal, dinners, weddings, graduations, Christmas, family vacations, birthdays, or just your family stories, all told through images. That's what your photos and videos are. They are your life told through the eyes of everyone around you and all who came before you, and they will tell others to come who you are. Visit creative video dot com. Let's get Mark on the program. Hello Mark, Welcome to the shoe. Hey man. Uh yeah, I just wanted to say my sister were in special needs, uh for CMS and the and like the special education department and one thing she doesn't. She no longer works there. She she went to school for it and she ended up not doing it because of the experience that she had with other teachers who were there, like for a very very long time. And I think with your your point that made earlier that you brought up you talked about how principles need to have more control over the hiring process and the firing process, especially in CMS. I one hundred degree man, because in my opinion, and I know my sister would agree, teaching is a is a passion and it is not an easy thing to do. And I feel like from what she has told me to stories that I'm not gonna like share because I don't want to rabbit hole and there's only a short amount of time. There's a lot of people who are teachers who do. Not care sure, just like in any profession, just like in any. Profession, Like I'm a chef, for example, and there's plenty of other chefs who have been above me that I've worked for, who I think have a terrible culture and who are very rude and very mean. But you can't do anything about it, because that's just it is what it is. You know, YEA, If you don't want to work. If you don't want to work under them, then you go find another job, working for another chef with a better culture exactly. And you know, and one thing you talk about, like these charter schools, where there's more people going to charter schools is because you know, parents don't want to send their kids to somewhere that is, you know, that has a bad culture, and where that culture is continuously like promoted, Like civics and economics isn't a thing anymore as far as I'm pretty sure, like at least in CMS, they don't teach that anymore. And that was my favorite That was my favorite thing in high school, learning about civics and economy. So here's and this is another aspect in all of this, which is the teaching profession is dominated by women, right has been for a very long time, and boys learn differently than girls, and boys need, generally speaking, need more time to go run around and do stuff and burn off some of their energy. Sitting them down in a classroom for forty five minutes or so not allowing them to you know, to break concentration or whatever. Especially today's kids with you know, very short attention spans, like that pedagogy, that method of teaching, that model of teaching that might not be the best thing for all kids. And exactly, and you know what, you know, I've built teams before, and I understand that whole concept, and that is I agree with you one hundred percent, and I would love to hear more people talk about it is the idea of principles building their team, building their teachers, you know, because that is the culture, like you want to talk about, like bring in people who are like kids not able to read when they get to like not being able to read a high school level when they get to high school. That's embarrassing. And it's because teachers. Teachers are overworked, are underpaid, and now they don't care. Well, you need an individual to build them up, man. I mean, you need someone to build somebody up, man, Like I mean, at the end of the day, that's what it is. Yeah, now I got you, Mark. I appreciate the comments. Thanks, Yes, sir, Yes, sir. All right, take care. Regarding the population declines, I'm going to kind of pivot here because I have a theory that may be connected. Okay, we hear. Oh, it's the birth rates, right, The birth rates are declining, and that's why the student population is declining. At public schools in North Carolina. One hundred and five out of one hundred and fifteen districts lost students. CMS has as many students as it had in twenty ten. Right now, Okay, so all of those population gains, they've they've all gone down back to twenty ten levels. And the education officials are like, it's the declining birth rate, so it's not their fault. Right. Meanwhile, I was seeing surges in charter schools. Whatever, here's another component. I'm not saying this is the main driver, but I would not be surprised if this had some kind of an impact. Here's a press release from the Department of Homeland Security announcing more than two point five million illegal aliens have left the United States since January of twenty twenty five. This year, DHS enforcement operations resulted in more than six hundred five thousand deportations. Additionally, thanks to the comprehensive ft of DHS law enforcement, one point nine million illegal aliens have voluntarily self deported since January twentieth, twenty twenty five. And the CBP app their homepage, offers a free flight home for Christmas and one thousand dollars if people choose to self deport, and by the way, that then preserves the ability for them to try to apply to become a citizen and to do it legally. If you self deport, you leave voluntarily, you won't be you know, deported, and then you've got an illegal re entry on your record, so you would still be able to apply to be a citizen down the road if you self deport now. So I'm just throwing this out there. Maybe this has an impact as well. All right, if you're listening to this show, you know I try to keep up with all sorts of current events, and I know you do too, And you've probably heard me say get your news from multiple sources. Why Well, because it's how you detect media bias, which is why I've been so impressed with ground News. It's an app and it's a website and it combines news from around the world in one place so you can compare coverage and verify information. You can check it out at check dot ground dot news slash Pete. I put the link in the podcast description too. I started using ground News a few months ago and more recently chose to work with them as an affiliate because it lets me see clearly how stories get covered and by whom. The blind spot feature shows you which stories get ignored by the left and the right. See for yourself. Check Dot Ground, dot News slash pete. Subscribe through that link and you'll get fifteen percent off any subscription. I use the vantage plan to get unlimited access to every feature. Your subscription then not only helps my podcast, but it also supports Ground News as they make the media landscape more transparent. Alrighty, So I saw this story a couple of days ago at the Charlotte Observer. I read it so you don't have to headline Charlotte church adds ice agents to nativity scene. That aims to disturb passers by. That's the goal, to be disturbed. It's disturbing in the sense that, like, you purport to be a Christian church with a nativity scene and you're packing a bunch of extra characters into the nativity. I mean yeah. Also, some of your explanation make me wonder if you know the stories you're supposed to know you're supposed to be telling. But uh, let's go to the article. This is again from the Observer, A Charlotte Church says it wants to disturb passers by this Christmas with a Nativity scene depicting Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. First off, you shouldn't put baby Jesus in the Nativity, yet you put the baby Jesus in the Nativity on Christmas. So that's your first first problem with this tableau. Yeah, so they got Jesus, Mary, and Joseph out there along with masked immigration agents wearing bulletproof vests and brandishing handcuffs. These are not actual people. They're mannequins. Okay, these are mannequins. The installation went up outside Mission Gathering Church all one word, Mission Gathering Church. This is in the Optimist Park area East fifteenth Street. It casts the biblical Holy Family as targets of modern immigration enforcement, which is kind of bizarre because they lived like two thousand years go and there was no ice. There wasn't even an America at the time. But so it's not really in keeping with the story. You know, the church is pastor. Oh and by the way, in case you're not aware and you hadn't figured this out by now, this is a woke social justice warrior church. I don't know how many people it's got. It doesn't seem like a very large church. But the church's pastor said that the goal is to force viewers to confront the fear that many immigrant families in Charlotte felt following recent immigration arrests in the city. Okay, well that's what it's not what it is doing, right, If that's the point of your art installation, right, this is what I refer to as art by explanation, right, where the message you're trying to convey is not a parent and so you have to explain it to people. So, uh, the explanation is that the goal is to force me. If I'm a viewer, I'm walking down the road and I come across your church and I see, oh, there's the Nativity. Wait, why is baby Jesus in the in the manger? He shouldn't be there. Oh, and then what are these ice agents doing? That does not inspire me to confront the fear of other people? That's not so I'm not sure you're aware, Like, if that was the goal of the installation, that is, that's not the outcome. Okay, so you missed the mark, which, by the way, is what the word sin means. When you when you miss the mark, just heads up on that. One Christian church. The goal This is according to the UH the leader of the church, Reverend Andrew Shipley, who says the goal is too disturb to make people feel so something. Didn't do that either. It doesn't disturb me and it doesn't make me feel something. It does make me think something about your church, about you. Yeah, but then again, a quick visit to the Facebook page of the of the church and they've got all sorts of posts up there and events that they were running. I think they were selling t shirts that say Queerness saves like Jesus saves, but queerness saves very much a proponent of the of the transgenderism the LGBTQ plus two I A. They also had some event about a Christmas potato which I'm not really clear on, like if that's just a mascot or is it like some sort of a food drive where you bring potatoes or something. Not really clear on that one. They're all in on leftist liberation theology. Yeah, big on the liberation theology stuff. Environmental justice check that box as well. Oh and they did the drag Bingo fundraiser. It's a big deal. For the church as well, just as Jesus would do. Yeah, the the drag Bingo fundraiser. They never said how much they raised for the drag or the but yeah, for the for the drag Queens, I'm not sure, but it said save the Queens. That's the name of the event. So you really get to think you got a good grasp on what this church is selling, you know, I mean, yeah, well it's like basically like all of the current direction of the Methodist Church. Now is that? Yeah? Sorry, too soon? Too soon? Okay, yeah, all right, the uh he says, what? Oh so Shipley goes on to say, what's happening to Charlotte Families is disturbing and is graphic and horrifying. He said. The installation was created by an outside artist collective called Task Force, which has created similar installations in cities across the country. Okay, now I also object to this being called art. They're just mannequins. And now, unless you're gonna say that when you walk through a department store and you see the mannequins wearing clothes and the different departments, you know, for the men's and the women's and whatever, like, if you're gonna call that art, then, okay, fine, this is art. But I don't call those art either. They're just mannequins. They're trying to sell me something, just as you are in your church. You're trying to sell me something. Shipley said. The group contacted the church iPhone end email with the idea, and local artists built to Charlotte display. Again, you just set up some mannequins. Okay, this isn't This isn't some massive art installation, Shipley said. The concept builds on the biblical account of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus fleeing violence under King Herod's rule, a story he believes parallels what many families are experiencing now. But wait a minute, now, I may be a little rusty in my memory here on what exactly happened that prompted Mary and Joseph to end up in the manger of the stable or the barn or whatever like. But I seem to recall this story. I think I've heard it. I don't know, probably about a thousand times at this point, so my recollection may not be correct. But didn't they go back to Bethlehem because they were following the law? Isn't that why they did that, I'll have to do some research. Here's a great idea. How about making an escape to a really special and secluded getaway in western North Carolina. Just a quick drive up the mountain and Cabins of Asheville is your connection. Whether you're celebrating an anniversary, a honeymoon, maybe you want to plan a memorable proposal, or get family and friends together for a big old reunion. Cabins of Asheville has the ideal spot for you where you can reconnect with your loved ones and the things that truly matter. Nestled within the breath taking fourteen thousand acres of the Pisga National Forest, their cabins offer a serene escape in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Centrally located between Asheville and the entrance of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. It's the perfect balance of seclusion and proximity to all the local attractions, with hot tubs, fireplaces, air conditioning, smart TVs, Wi Fi grills, outdoor tables, and your own private covered porch. Choose from thirteen cabins, six cottages, two villain and a great lodge with eleven king sized bedrooms. Cabins of Asheville has the ideal spot for you for any occasion, and they have pet friendly accommodations. Call her text eight two eight three six seven seventy sixty eight or check out all there is to offer at Cabins Ofashville dot com and make memories that'll last a lifetime. David, Welcome to the program. Hello David, Hello, how you doing. I am well, sir, I am. Well, well, I just wanted to verify that you are correct. They were observing the law to go and have their names listed in the census. And that's because they're the city of David, and the lineage of David was at. A besta hat That's what I seem to recall too. So I don't know why ICE agents would be surrounding Baby Jesus. You know, well, I think that we've confused our faith with our ideology. Ah, yes, I think you are correct, David. I appreciate the call, sir. You will kai. Yeah, so Floyd says on the text line, Mary and Joseph went back to Bethlehem going to pay their taxes. You do, okay? Yeah? Because then there was this this is off of Christian Today dot com, which maybe the Mission Gathering Church might want to review Luke two. And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This census first took place while Kyarinius was governing Syria, so all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth into Judea, to the city of which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, and he went there to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. So it was that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. Now, according to Christian Today dot com JB. Katchilla, the author of this piece, the Roman emperor was able to call all the Jews back to their hometowns through the use of a census. Since Joseph was a descendant of David, he had to go back to Bethlehem in order to comply with the command of the ruler. See again, I'm not sure that the Mission Gathering Church is really internalizing and understanding some of the details of this story, and maybe they are not familiar. Maybe they're not as familiar with the story, but I kind of remember these details from many years ago, and like I would think that the lead preacher of the church would know some of these key details. It's like one of the biggest days in the Christian calendar. So, by the way, this also fulfilled the prophecy from Micah five to two, because the census that prompted Joseph and Mary to go to Bethlehem in order to comply with the law. See. Because a corollary here would be if Mary and Joseph did not go back to Bethlehem, right, that would be the analogy that they would stay in Nazareth. They would not have gone back to Bethlehem. They would have stayed in the place where they were not supposed to stay. See, that would be more analogous to the ice thing that you're trying to, you know, use. But this census was the first of its kind to take place, the very first census, which of course then fulfills the prophecy. Now back to the Charlotte Observer article, the reverend of the Mission Gathering Church, Andrew Shipley, said that the concept builds on the biblical account right of Mary Joseph and Jesus fleeing violence, A story that fleeing violence under King Herod's rule, A story he believes parallels what many families are experiencing. Now, okay, didn't Herod order like the murder of every young male? Didn't he send out the troops to go slaughter every kid? So it wouldn't be king? What is that what we're doing in America right now? I must have missed all of the slaughtering or something I didn't see. I mean, look, I follow the news pretty closely, okay, but I have not seen I have not seen all of the slaughtering. He said. Quote. The goal is to translate the Christmas story into a modern context. Okay, Well you failed, okay because you missed it, missed the mark aka sin. If the Holy Family had been in Charlotte two weeks ago, they would have been putting the baby Jesus in handcuffs because he wouldn't have his papers. Well okay, no, see again, you like you either don't understand the immigration law currently or you don't understand the Christmas story, but also you don't understand either that they don't make handcuffs. That small dude. Okay, You don't need to handcuff a baby. It's an infant, it's a newborn. You can kind of just pick it up and take it wherever you want. It's not going to fight back. Good Lord, all right, that'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening. I could not do the show without your support and the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast, so if you'd like, please support them too and tell them you heard it here. You can also become a patron at my Patreon page or go to thepetecleanershow dot com. Again, thank you so much for listening, and don't break anything while I'm gone.