Even though he has yet to make an official announcement, it looks like Rep. Bill Faison (D-Orange, Caswell) wants to be governor of North Carolina, Honestly, I give Faison (hereinafter “The Stache”) credit for taking on the Democratic establishment, but I have some concerns.
1. The Stache recently loaned his campaign $500,000. That loan suggests that he is part of the top 1% of income earners, which, for some, means that he is inherently evil.
2. During his press conference yesterday, The Stache stated that North Carolina ranks 49th in per pupil spending. I dismantled that bogus ranking in a June newsletter. (Sign up for newsletters here.) If you don’t take my word for it, read this News & Record editorial.
3. The Stache wants every high school student in North Carolina to have a laptop or iPad and high-speed Internet access at home. According to first month Average Daily Membership (ADM) figures for the 2011-2012 school year, North Carolina has over 430,000 high school students in district schools and around 7,000 high school students in charter schools. Let’s say that we spend $200 on a laptop for each of the state’s 437,000 high school students. The computers would cost $87.4 million, and that does not include the cost of infrastructure (for home and school), personnel, software, insurance, training, and replacement/repair.