Some familiar names will be speaking out at a press conference this morning to complain about the education bills being promoted by Republican state lawmakers.

Former Congressman Bob Etheridge and Public Schools First NC are holding a press conference at 11 a.m. in Green Hope Park in Cary "in support of strong public schools." Other speakers include Adrienne Lumpkin and Lynn Edmonds, both leaders in the Great Schools in Wake Coalition.

The group charges that lawmakers are leading "a race to the bottom" with proposed measures such as dropping class size limits, cutting back on teacher assistants and providing voucher money for families to attend private schools.

Public School First NC, whose members include several groups who've been involved in the Wake County school fights over the past three years, will host the "Let's Keep Public Dollars in Public Schools" forum on Monday.

Public Schools First says the forum will be "an important conversation about the state of public education." The group has been a vocal critic of the education changes being promoted by the Republican-led General Assembly.

The event's co-sponsors include the Great Schools in Wake Coalition, the Coalition of Concerned Citizens for African American Children and the Raleigh-Wake Citizens Association.

The forum will be from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Pullen Memorial Baptist Church, 1801 Hillsborough Street in Raleigh.

Members of the Great Schools in Wake Coalition found out Wednesday that the state Senate is going to be tougher when it comes to dealing with protesters.

Several GSIW members, who are part of the new Public Schools First NC group, attended today's Senate Education Committee to speak out against S337, the bill that would change how charter schools were governed.

Sen. Dan Soucheck, the committee co-chairman, said they weren't going to hear from the public today because they had public comment at last week's meeting. He said he wanted to hear from the committee members today.

In protest, the GSIW members put scarves around their faces. They left the meeting room after the sergeant-at-arms, with handcuffs out, approached them.

UPDATE

Click here for the Progressive Pulse blog post from the liberal N.C. Policy Watch about what happened. Patty Williams says in the blog post that the protesters were threatened with arrest.

The Insider is reporting that Weaver said the protesters could have been charged with violating a state law that prohibits people from wearing masks or hoods to disguise their identities on state property.

Education historian Dianne Ravitch is coming to Raleigh next week for a public forum on education issues.

Ravitch will speak March 21 at the liberal N.C Policy Watch's "Crucial Conversation" event, which is billed as a chance to speak with "America's leading spokesperson for public education." The event is co-sponsored by two other liberal groups, the North Carolina Justice Center's Education & Law Project and Public Schools First NC.

Ravitch has become a favorite with liberal groups for her criticism of school choice and standardized testing. Ravitch is an author, political commentator, research professor of education at New York University and a former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education.

Some of the groups who've spent the past three years fighting efforts to eliminate diversity from Wake County's student assignment policies are now focusing on statewide education issues.

As noted in today's article by John Frank and Lynn Bonner, several liberal advocacy groups have joined to form Public Schools First NC. Their goal during the legislative agenda that opens today is to counter "the growing threat to privatize and weaken North Carolina’s public schools."

Members of PSFNC include the Great Schools in Wake Coalition, the Coalition of Concerned Citizens for African American Children, the Raleigh-Wake Citizens Association and the N.C. Justice Center.