Earlier this month I served as a Clergy Captain driving a support vehicle during the 50 mile Love Forward Together March from Wilson to Raleigh with Repairers of the Breach on February 11-13. For three days we creeped along the main streets of small towns and back country roads through Wilson, Nash, Johnson, and Wake counties to the Capitol. 

I noticed the landscape change as we left the flat sandy soil and farm land to encounter hills that led to red clay and skyscrapers. I noticed homes with neighbors greeting us from their front porches and daycare children who cheered for us from the sidewalks. I noticed vacant store fronts reminiscent of a forgotten past and thriving small businesses who today make up the heart of our communities. I noticed extreme wealth and extreme poverty in the houses often sitting side by side. I saw love and gratitude in the faces of my neighbors I was able to greet with my windows down, and rarely, I saw grief and anger from neighbors who see me as the enemy. I lifted up extra prayers for these neighbors and their children and grandchildren too.

As the Rally at the Capitol wrapped up that Saturday February 14, I took a moment to face the NC Supreme Court Building on Morgan Street. This large granite building states “Law and Justice” at the top, and yet neither word rings true for the 1.5 million children across our state who have been waiting 2 years for a court decision to be released. “Law and Justice” is also a lie for the generations of children over the last 32+ years who have had their NC constitutional rights to a sound, basic education denied. 

On February 22, 2024, I stood on these exact same steps addressing this same issue. The NC Supreme Court had taken the unprecedented step to re-hear arguments in the Leandro v. NC case despite the facts not changing. On November 4, 2022 the NC Supreme Court directed the state to release the funds to finally implement the eight year Comprehensive Remedial Plan. I never imagined in 2022 or 2024 that we would still be waiting for our children to receive justice in 2026, and yet, this is where we are. 723 days (and counting) of waiting for a NC Supreme Court decision and over 32 years of a legal fight for our children’s education. 

Justice delayed is justice denied. 

During the March I thought about this denial of justice. It is not lost on me that the precious children who came out to cheer for us as we passed along the route are the same children who are being most harmed by the policy choices and underfunding by the NC Legislature’s refusal to comply with the NC Constitution and Comprehensive Remedial Plan.  It also is not lost on me that as I pass rural businesses that are shuttered, NC urban leaders proudly declare we are first in business.  It is not lost on me that these same leaders remain silent or evasive as the NC General Assembly shifts public funds to private, mostly Christian, schools in the same year that NC is named 50th in funding effort for schools. As people of faith, we all are called to repair that breach of justice.

I support public education because I believe it’s one of the best ways we can love our neighbors. Investing in public education lifts children and families out of poverty, and for me, that is good news to the poor as Jesus said in Luke 4. Public schools are required to serve every child. Because of an eroding social safety net, our schools are also serving as a place where our children are receiving care beyond just academics. For me, that extra care looks like caring for the least of these as Jesus said to do in Matthew 25. Fully funding and supporting our public schools is not only the constitutionally required thing to do, it’s the morally right thing to do. It is WAY past time for the NC Supreme Court to do the right thing and ensure ALL of NC’s 1.5 million school children receive the education they need to thrive. And it’s 32 years past time for the NC Legislature to put our children first and do everything in their power to care for our children. They are our neighbors to be loved after all, and we are tired of waiting to be treated as such. It is time to vote for legislators who take funding public education seriously and uphold the Constitution. It’s time to repair the breach and “Love forward together!” 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

The Rev. Suzanne Parker Miller is founder and director of Pastors for NC Children (PNCC) and their newest project People of Faith for Public Schools. PNCC mobilizes people of faith across NC to advocate for public schools. Suzanne is a Moravian minister, wife, and mom of 2 public school children in Raleigh.