RALEIGH, North Carolina, Nov 05, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Educators celebrate success of unprecedented, aggressive GOTV effort Yesterday's historic election delivered more than a few winners--perhaps the biggest being public education, say North Carolina educators. Thanks to wins by pro-public education candidates like Barack Obama, Kay Hagan, Bev Perdue, Walter Dalton, Heath Shuler and Larry Kissell, significant progress will be made in the cause of ensuring great public schools for every student.
Voters in North Carolina elected a former educator and current friend of education to hold their top state spot. In North Carolina, Democrat Bev Purdue made education a priority in her role as lieutenant governor and promises to do the same as governor. She wants to expand early childhood education initiatives and improve college scholarship programs.
Educators are excited to have a partner in the U.S. Senate like the pro-public education Kay Hagan.
"Without a doubt, this has been a historical election season," said Sheri Strickland, president of the 65,000 plus-member North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE). "Educators across the country--especially here in the Tar Heel state--were energized and mobilized. We're very proud to have helped deliver victory for these very worthy friends of public education--including members of our very own education family like Bev Perdue and Larry Kissell." NCAE mounted an unprecedented member-to-member GOTV effort mobilizing more than 800 volunteers across the state for activities including phone banks, post-card writing parties, "Voter Update 10-Minute Meetings," and volunteering at the polls. NCAE member volunteers distributed 100,000 NCAE "Apple Ballots" throughout early voting and on election day statewide.
NCAE members pulled out all the stops to elect supporters of public education to the state legislature. Association members staffed phone banks, and educated family and colleagues to be successful. NCAE called on each member to convince at least five other people to support the Association slate. NCAE closely monitored several legislative races.
Nationally, NCAE's fellow educators in the National Education Association were equally as poised to make a difference at election booths across the country--and did. All in all, public education fared well as a result of the massive effort to reach the 3.2 million members of NEA, a voting bloc that grew to more than 5 million when family members were factored in.
"At every level of government, we saw victories for students, educators, and public education, and NEA's 3.2 million members should be proud of the role they played in this historic election," said NEA President Dennis Van Roekel.
"This is an incredible opportunity to begin to correct the failed education policies of the Bush administration and prepare our students to compete in a 21st century economy." The NEA, through its Fund for Children and Public Education, ran three statewide radio ads supporting Bev Perdue, Kay Hagan, and Barack Obama.
Concerned about access to higher education, NEA distributed approximately 20,000 Got Tuition? guides pertaining to college affordability on nearly a dozen college campuses.
In the end, NEA and its affiliates distributed more than 21.3 million pieces of mail and made more than 2.1 million phone calls. The landscape for the American worker looks a little brighter as a number of initiatives by anti-workers' rights groups were defeated.