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Brief
The North Carolina Education Building in Raleigh. (Photo: Clayton Henkel)
Three Democrats and two Republicans, including GOP incumbent Catherine Truitt, have filed for election to the state’s top education seat.
The filing period for the March 5, 2024 primary election closed at noon Friday.
Truitt, who lives in Raleigh, was elected Superintendent of Public Instruction in 2020 in a hotly contested race against Democrat Jen Mangrum, a professor at UNC Greensboro. Truitt garnered 51.4% of the vote to Mangrum’s 48.6%.
The superintendent will face Michele Morrow in the Republican primary. Morrow, a former nurse turned stay-at-home mother and homeschool teacher from Cary, gained notoriety as a far-right conservative Wake County Board of Education candidate in 2022. In that race, Morrow was endorsed by the Wake County Republican Party and Moms for Liberty.
During her tenure, Truitt has trumpeted the “science of reading,” which is a phonics-based approach to teaching young children to read. She has also faced criticism for her unwavering support for school choice.
On the Democratic side of the ballot, longtime educator Maurice “Mo” Green of Raleigh was the final candidate to enter the superintendent’s race on Friday. Green became the first Black superintendent of Guilford County Schools in 2008. He resigned in 2015 to lead the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation in Winston-Salem. He held that post until March.
On Friday, the NC Association of Educators endorsed Green in the three-way Democratic primary.
“Mo Green has been a champion for students and public schools for years and we are proud to give him our full endorsement,” NCAE President Tamika Walker Kelly said. “He has a sterling record in two of North Carolina’s largest school systems, and that is the kind of leadership we need in the Department of Public Instruction.”
The Democratic field of superintendent hopefuls is rounded out by two educators currently working in school districts.
Kenon Crumble of Clayton is a Wake County high school principal who unsuccessfully sought election to the Johnston County Board of Education in 2022. Meanwhile, C.R. Katie Eddings, a Lee County personal finance teacher who lives in Sanford, announced plans to run for the office in June. Eddings is a 20-year veteran of public education.
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