One of the down-ballot races in North Carolina gaining national attention this year is the contest for state superintendent. The position heads one of the largest state agencies, carries out a multi-billion dollar budget, and supports all North Carolina's public schools.
The two people vying for the job are both political newcomers, and their political rhetoric couldn't be more different. Republican Michele Morrow is a former nurse and homeschool teacher who has made headlines for controversial social media posts. Mo Green is a former Guilford County Schools superintendent who says the "very soul of public education" is on the ballot.
At a street festival in downtown Wake Forest earlier this month, Michele Morrow walked through the crowd, donning a blue t-shirt that read, "Make education great again" across the back. With a smile, she extended her hand to a potential voter.
"I'm running to be the next state superintendent of public instruction," Morrow introduced herself.
Precincts in this part of northern Wake County lean Republican. As she spoke with prospective voters, Morrow said she wants to return safety, discipline, and academics to schools, and "not have any politics and all of the activism."
As she moved through the crowd, Morrow drew on her experience home-schooling her five children, after the eldest started out in public school.
"The majority of homeschoolers would put their kids gladly back into public school if they were sure that they were going to be safe, they weren't going to be bullied, and they weren't going to have – like what you're saying – this worldview that is not their family's worldview, pushed on their children," Morrow said to a voter.
On the campaign trail, the Republican candidate has said she believes public schools are "indoctrination centers," and stands by the statement in interviews. Her comments are outrageous to some, and resonate with others.
Despite her criticism of public schools, Morrow said in an interview with WUNC that the biggest misconception about her is: "Probably that I want to destroy public education, that I don't care about public education, and that I am dangerous."
In a state where voters have chosen a Republican state superintendent in the past two elections, this race will be a referendum on Morrow and her politics. Just a year ago, very few had heard of her, including her opponent Mo Green.
After the primary, Green changes his campaign strategy
Democratic nominee Mo Green said he expected the Republican incumbent Catherine Truitt would win her party's nomination the night of the primary. Truitt had held the role for four years, been an adviser to former Governor Pat McCrory, and helped pass two major bills - the "Parents' Bill of Rights" and a law to retrain public school teachers in the "science of reading."
Morrow had spoken at local school board meetings and legislative committees, but had never before held office, after running unsuccessfully for a seat on the Wake County school board in 2022.
Democratic Governor Roy Cooper asked Green to consider running for state superintendent, and Green won his party's nomination by a wide margin.
In what was widely considered a surprise upset, Morrow won the Republican nomination by a narrow margin, with 457,000 votes to Truitt's 420,000.
"It was that night that I said, 'Well, you know, now that she's going to be the Republican nominee, let me do a little bit more exploration about her – and, I mean, wow,'" Green told WUNC.
One of the first things that surfaced after Morrow won the primary was that she participated in the protests in Washington D.C. on January 6, 2021. She's also gained attention for controversial social media posts ranging from recent comments that the plus in LGBTQ+ stands for pedophilia, to four years ago calling for the execution of former President Barack Obama – a tweet Morrow says she made in jest.
In his stump speech, Green said after researching Morrow, he changed his campaign strategy.
"Now all across our state I've been saying the same thing, and that is that the very soul of public education is on the ballot this November," Green said in a speech at a meet-and-greet for educators at a brewery in Wilson.
Green touts his experience, with seven years as superintendent of the third largest school district in the state, as a school district attorney in Charlotte, and as executive director of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation.
"I have actually been in a role where I have led and managed thousands of individuals, administered budgets in the billions," Green told WUNC.
Green said what distinguishes him from his opponent is that he "believes in public schools."
"If you want to run our schools, and if you want to advocate for our schools, then perhaps you ought to believe in our schools," Green said in a stump speech.
Green and Morrow spar over politics and policies in public appearances
Unlike the candidates for governor, Green and Morrow have begun making public appearances together. Voters can find hours of online video of the two discussing education policy at forums hosted by Public Schools First NC, LatinxEd, and BestNC.
At times, their debates become tense.
At a conference for Latino educators hosted by the advocacy nonprofit LatinxEd, Morrow attacked Green's affiliation to the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, calling it a "far left extremist group."
Some audience members shifted in their seats, and someone in the crowd gasped. Z. Smith Reynolds was a sponsor of the conference they were all attending.
On stage, Green, meanwhile, attacks Morrow's character for comments she's made online. At a meeting of teaching college professors, Green said that Morrow calls teachers "groomers" and Morrow shook her head, whispering, "not all teachers."
But behind the two candidates' vastly different politics, their policies touch on similar issues.
Both have said publicly that they want to raise teacher pay, for example, but they'd go about it differently. Green wants the state to increase school funding. Morrow says she would audit education spending and redistribute funding by cutting programs she feels promote a political agenda.
Both Morrow and Green say school safety is a major issue and support having school resource officers in schools. They both say they want to promote phonics, change how the state grades schools from A to F, and would be open to incentive pay for teachers based on their responsibilities.
The current state superintendent Catherine Truitt also promoted those last three policies as part of her legislative agenda. But the Republican-led legislature writes education laws. Despite being a seasoned Republican who served in a former governor's office, very few of Truitt's major policy initiatives became law in her four years on the job.
In a role that relies more on rhetoric than on policy writing, the candidates vying to replace her couldn't be more different in how they talk about public schools.
