North Carolina schools could look and operate differently next year if the state Legislature eventually passes a handful of bills that made it out of a key committee on Tuesday.
One of the bills that advanced would require every public school in the state to prominently display signs containing the phrases “In God We Trust” and “To Be, Rather Than To Seem.”
In God We Trust is the national motto, and To Be, Rather Than To Seem is the English translation of the state motto, which is Esse Quam Videri.
Another bill would check to make sure that schools are still teaching cursive writing, even though it’s not part of the new Common Core curriculum the state adopted several years ago. It would also automatically send elementary school students with high test scores into advanced math classes.
Finally, a third bill would expand the controversial Innovative School District program, in which the control of low-performing schools is taken away from local school boards and handed over to charter school operators. The bill would also allow school districts to hire the spouses of their superintendents, which critics said could lead to ethical problems.
Republican Rep. Bert Jones of Rockingham County, the main sponsor of the bill requiring the new signs, defended his proposal from past criticism levied by the North Carolina American Civil Liberties Union. The civil liberties group told The News & Observer that signs mentioning God in schools would make non-Christian students feel “that they are second-class or not welcome.”
“When you see the words ‘In God We Trust,’ certainly no one is compelling you to worship a god … or to practice any particular religion,” Jones said.
Democratic Rep. Cecil Brockman of Greensboro said the ACLU had a good point, that “we have a right to believe whatever religion we want, but we also have a right to not believe anything at all.”
But Jones said even if people see the word God in school, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re going to think about the Christian God.
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