For the week of
July 13, 2012
- carolinajournal.com
Reaction of the Week
RALEIGH — Net growth in the percentage of North Carolina students
attending schools of choice between 2001 and 2010 posed no threat to
traditional public school enrollment. That’s a key conclusion in a new
John Locke Foundation Policy Report.
“Opponents of school choice treat it as a dire threat,” said report
author Dr. Terry Stoops, JLF Director of Education Studies. “That
includes N.C. State Board of Education chairman Bill Harrison’s recent
comment that this year’s proposed education tax credit bill amounted to
the latest effort to ‘dismantle public education.’”
“But the hard facts linked to school choice don’t match the rhetoric,”
Stoops added. “The traditional public school system remains the primary
provider of schooling for most North Carolina families.”
Stoops documents state-by-state data on the percentage of students
attending schools of choice compared to traditional public district
schools. He notes how those percentages changed from 2001 to 2010.
Stoops also documents specific enrollment data for private, charter, and
home schools nationwide.
News Features
CJ: If ALEC violates tax-exempt status, what about NCSL?
RALEIGH — Activities such as bill drafting, model legislation, and
disseminating research and analysis for the use of legislators are
standard activities for many nonprofits of the right and left. Only ALEC
has drawn the ire of left-of-center groups for its participation in
these activities. CJ: Public debt puts N.C. in nation’s bottom third
RALEIGH — North Carolina is $37.6 billion short
of the money it needs to pay its long-term bills, according to a June 25
report by the Institute for Truth in Accounting. The “Financial State of the States” report reveals that North Carolina
is one of 44 states with financial obligations far outweighing
government assets. CJ: Insko: N.C. will create health care exchange
CHAPEL HILL – While some states are opting out
of expanded Medicaid provisions in the Patient Protection and Affordable
Care Act, state Rep. Verla Insko confidently predicts North Carolina
will participate in the expansion despite a temporary spike in costs to
the state. CJ: Martin board refuses to lease vacant building to charter school
RALEIGH — Newly created Bear Grass Charter
School planned to open its doors this August in an abandoned high school
building, but the Martin County Board of Education said the building is
not for sale or rent. NC utilities panel calls Johnson to testify
RALEIGH — Ousted Duke Energy chief executive Bill Johnson will tell his
side of the story next week as the N.C. Utilities Commission escalates
its probe into his firing. He is expected to counter charges that
reinstated Duke CEO Jim Rogers made before the commission this week.
Upcoming Events
Monday, July 16, 2012 at 12:00 pm Noon
A meeting of the Shaftesbury Society
with our special guest Steve Milloy
Outlaw Experiments? Human Testing at the Environmental Protection Agency
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Capital Quotes
“All I can say is we’re the fourth-highest unemployment rate in the nation. Something’s not working.”
— Republican gubernatorial nominee Pat McCrory, as quoted by the Associated Press, in introducing his economic platform.
“I’m confident that what we’ve done is what the voters asked us to do in 2010.”
— Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, talking to the Greensboro News & Record about the just-completed session of the General Assembly.
“In 30 years of practicing law, I’ve never seen someone drop a permit application because they might get sued.”
— David Farren of the Southern Environmental Law Center, commenting to the Charlotte Observer on the N.C. Department of Transportation’s decision to withdraw water-quality permit applications for the Garden Parkway, a proposed toll bypass in Gaston and Mecklenburg counties. Farren believes that the DOT study on which it would base its applications was flawed in much the same way that studies on the Monroe Connector/Bypass were recently found wanting by a federal appeals court. “The school calendar, with the flexibility, is better than what it was but is not as good as it should be.”
— State Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson, as quoted by the Associated Press, talking about a new law giving school districts a choice between a minimum number of school days or a minimum number of hours.
On The Air This Week…
This week on C J Radio…
JLF’s John Hood discusses Obamacare’s implications for freedom and state policy; legislators debate overriding Gov. Perdue’s budget veto; supporters and opponents of the Racial Justice Act debate changes to the law; legislators discuss the need for more regulatory reform; and JLF’s Becki Gray recaps the short legislative session.
This week on NC Spin…
Join moderator Tom Campbell
for another week of political discussion and debate on the most
intelligent television talk show in the state. Topics this week: Runoff elections; Duke-Progress Energy merger fallout; and impact of healthcare ruling. This week’s panelists: John Hood, president of the John Locke Foundation; Chris Fitzsimon of NC Policy Watch; former legislator Connie Wilson; and political analyst Lee Clyburn.
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