Here’s a pretty good indication of the state of the debate about public schools in North Carolina. The Republicans and the right-wing think tanks that craft their talking points are now boasting about their figures that show North Carolina ranks 42nd in the country in per pupil spending and that the Republican budget fired 534 teachers and 1,260 teacher assistants.

Those are their education accomplishments, a budget which slashed $460 million from public schools and fired 2,000 people from classrooms across the state.

Break out the champagne.

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