North Carolina’s local public schools prepare our children for life. They are the place of choice for most North Carolina families, and they have the support of North Carolina voters. To help us boldly tell this story to our communities and decision makers, and highlight the great educational opportunities offered daily in local public schools, NCASA is partnering with Neimand Collaborative, a social impact marketing firm, to create a customizable toolkit and to provide regional outreach workshops for our members.

In an environment where headlines and perceptions drive action, this work provides a much-needed opportunity to rally around effective messages that best communicate the value of local public schools and increased funding. It is an outgrowth of an effort launched by the Public School Forum of North Carolina with Neimand Collaborative in 2024 to develop research-driven messaging for public school champions.

“In this era of increasing funding for private school vouchers that take money from local public schools and give it to private and religious schools, North Carolina districts need to be bold and loud that public schools are the place that prepares students for life,” said Katherine Joyce, NCASA’s Executive Director. “We at NCASA want to help with enhancing that communication effort across the state and are pleased to partner with the Neimand Collaborative to make these free resources and messaging training available to our district members statewide.”

Over the next four months, NCASA will share a toolkit with all LEAs that are district members to help each tell public school success stories, reinforce the value of local public schools, and educate key audiences in local communities on how private school vouchers negatively impact local public schools. A committee chaired by NCASA Past-President Rhonda Schuhler, Superintendent of Franklin County Schools, will help guide the development of the toolkit, which can be tailored by local districts and schools, will be available in English and Spanish and include templates for a presentation, fact sheet, social media posts, blog post, op-ed, and storytelling guide.

To help NCASA members build the skills to use the new messaging, implement the toolkit, and tell your story, we also will host three regional workshops in April. More information on that free messaging training will be forthcoming.