By Amy Cockerham
Public Ed Works

CHAPEL HILL (April 23, 2026) – Former Coach Anson Dorrance of the UNC-Chapel Hill women’s soccer team and his daughter, Natalie Dorrance Harris, a school librarian, are speaking out on the public education funding crisis.

Dorrance has 21 NCAA championships under his belt, which is the most by a head coach in any Division I sport in college athletics history. After 47 years, he retired in 2024 with a 1,106-152-74 record – an 83% winning percentage.

Dorrance says he always stressed to his team the importance of taking academics seriously.

“Their academic education and character growth came first,” Dorrance says. “That being said, I am deeply concerned by the lack of funding our state is allocating to the North Carolina public schools.”

North Carolina currently ranks 41st out of 50 states for per-pupil spending, 43rd out of 50 states for average teacher pay and dead last in investing economic resources back into public education.

“This is unacceptable,” Dorrance says. “As a state, we must do better in order to ensure the success of our students and the future of our state.”

Dorrance’s daughter Natalie is a public school librarian in Guilford County.

“School librarian positions are always on the chopping block, due to budget cuts and lack of funding,” Harris says. 

“Additionally, current teacher and administration pay salaries are not enough to keep up with our state’s housing and living costs, forcing our educators to seek other employment opportunities.”

Dorrance and Harris urge voters to advocate for better funding and support for North Carolina’s public schools by telling their state legislators to put children’s education first.