Former North Carolina State Superintendent of Public Instruction, teacher and administrator; textbook author, advocate for children

Raleigh, NC
Joined June 2009
Welcome back to school, @ncpublicschools students, educators and staff! I'm looking forward to seeing what the 2026-27 school year will bring! #nced
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June Atkinson retweeted
Likewise, you can support private schools taking public money and hold them accountable and challenging them to do better.
You can support N.C. public schools while also holding them accountable and challenging them to do better.
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June Atkinson retweeted
NC Opportunity Scholarships present 4 significant barriers for low-income families: - Vouchers often don’t cover full tuition/fees - No transportation - Private schools limit admissions - Limited academic/special ed support #schoolchoice only works when access is real.
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June Atkinson retweeted
A national tragedy.
In 2025, U.S. national parks recorded more than 323 million visits. But as the parks gain more popularity, the Trump administration has proposed cutting more than a billion dollars from the National Park Service, which could eliminate thousands of jobs and threaten protections across more than 430 parks nationwide. @GeoffRBennett has more.
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This private school in Fayetteville, NC pocketed $4,271,109 in public tax dollars this school year via school vouchers. They ban students who practice specific religions like Islam and Buddhism, and they also deny admissions to LGBTQ+ students whom they call "perverted." #nced
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Honored to have received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Association of Career Technical Education at its convention in Nashville.
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This is why we must restore all cancer funding.
A single dose of a new cancer drug made a brain tumor almost disappear – in just five days. Doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital reported “dramatic and rapid” tumor regression in the first patients treated with a next-generation form of CAR T-cell therapy for glioblastoma, one of the most aggressive brain cancers known. The therapy, called CARv3-TEAM-E, was developed to overcome a major hurdle in treating solid tumors: their ability to hide from the immune system. The personalized treatment reprograms a patient’s immune cells to attack the tumor, and in one extraordinary case, nearly eliminated the cancer within just five days. This novel therapy is designed to target multiple features of the tumor at once, a strategy that may help overcome the common challenge of treatment resistance in solid tumors like glioblastoma. Although the tumors eventually returned, the early outcomes were described as unprecedented. One patient saw a 60% reduction in tumor size that lasted for half a year—an impressive result in a cancer known for its aggressiveness. The trial’s success marks a major step forward for immunotherapy in brain cancer and raises new hopes for long-term control or even a cure. Researchers are now working to refine the treatment and extend its effects, with the ultimate goal of turning a once-terminal diagnosis into a survivable condition.
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June Atkinson retweeted
Exactly. Nineteen years ago, we all attended the signing on the South Lawn of George W. Bush’s White House after the bill passed the Senate in a 98-0 vote and the House in a 390-33 vote.
Dear national media: Instead of using photos of LBJ signing the Voting Rights Act, use this one of its bi-partisan reauthorization. It does more to show how far we’ve regressed in a few short years.
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June Atkinson retweeted
Mike Johnson is asked about the delay in swearing in Rep.-Elect Adelita Grijalva: "Bless her heart. She's a representative elect. She doesn't know how it works around here." Grijalva: "How offensive and how patronizing. Yesterday, my race was certified, and so that's how things work. Your job is to swear me in."
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June Atkinson retweeted
Hitler – Mein Kampf (1925): “The first and most important task of education is to teach the youth to love their own nation and country, and to subordinate everything else to this.” Stalin – Speech to the Komsomol (1935): “Young people must be brought up to love with all their heart the socialist homeland, the Soviet Union, for only then can they become true communists.” Mussolini – Speech to the Chamber of Deputies (1927): “We educate the young to believe in Fascism, to revere the fatherland, and to prepare themselves for the sacrifices which the nation will require of them.” Franco – Address to the Spanish Youth Organization (1940): “We must train children from the earliest years to love Spain above all things, to serve her with discipline and sacrifice, and to accept no ideal higher than the greatness of our fatherland.”
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June Atkinson retweeted
WOW. Rare 1923 footage shows Black children in Memphis singing “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen.” A mesmerizing spiritual that carries the pain and resilience of our ancestors that these kids brought to life!
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"When our entire education community works together like this, students win,” said Mo Green, state Superintendent of Public Instruction. “NC College Connect removes barriers and creates clear pathways to college for thousands of our students." ednc.org/08-11-2025-ask-answ…
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June Atkinson retweeted
What Dr Fusarelli brought together and sustained with NELA is beyond incredible. Hands down, THE model for principal preparation. Just look at the data THANK YOU Dr Fusarelli!
Replying to @NELA_NCSU
We want to recognize the exemplary leadership of Dr. Bonnie Fusarelli in this role for many years!
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June Atkinson retweeted
Come on Congressman. We spent a good amount of time together when I was superintendent of @CumberlandCoSch and you worked with Congressman Hayes. You know this isn’t true.
Roy Cooper spent decades dragging North Carolina left and now he wants to do the same to America. Roy Cooper supports men playing in girls sports and raising taxes on working families. Roy Cooper marched with protestors and then let them burn Raleigh. And Roy Cooper assured all of America that Joe Biden was perfectly capable of being President for four more years. Roy Cooper doesn’t want to make America great again, he just wants to take America Left.
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June Atkinson retweeted
Let’s pay attention!
A national private school tax incentive is inching closer to reality as Republican-led proposals dedicate funding for the controversial effort in the “Big, Beautiful Bill,” despite calls to prioritize public schools, which serve most of the nation's kids. k12dive.com/news/national-pr…
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If the proposed Congressional budget were to become law, five rural hospitals in NC could be in danger of closing: UNC Rockingham Hospital in Eden Person Memorial Hospital in Roxboro Chatham Hospital in Siler City MH Angel Medical Center in Franklin Blue Ridge Region Hospital in Spruce Pine   The Senate needs to stop this bill because North Carolinians cannot afford to lose access to health care.
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Congratulations to the Jack Britt 2025 graduating class for earning $4.2 million dollars in student scholarships for college
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Yesterday, with @NC_Governor and @NCLtGovernor, we sent the attached letter to Speaker Johnson, Leader Jeffries, Leader Thune, Leader Schumer & Members of North Carolina’s congressional delegation. As Governor, Lieutenant Governor & State Superintendent of Public Instruction, we are deeply concerned about reported proposals from Washington to eliminate funding for Head Start. #nced #ncpol
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