Click here to view and here to listen to Dr. Terry Stoops discussing this Spotlight report. RALEIGH — A survey of nearly 900 academic studies from the past quarter-century shows North Carolina has been moving in the right direction on education reform in recent years. That’s a key conclusion from a new John Locke Foundation...
RALEIGH — Gov. Pat McCrory’s proposed $20.99 billion General Fund budget for 2014-15 would cover the state’s top priorities with a modest spending increase, while ensuring that an expected revenue shortfall does not create a long-term budget hole. John Locke Foundation experts offer that assessment after perusing the budget plan McCrory unveiled today. “The 1.7...
Click here to view and here to listen to Sarah Curry discussing this Spotlight report. RALEIGH — Haywood County would place its local hospitality businesses at a competitive disadvantage with those in surrounding counties, if local and state officials move forward with a proposal to raise the county’s occupancy tax rate by 50 percent. That’s...
RALEIGH — The latest federal employment data for North Carolina support the case that a fiscally conservative approach to state fiscal policy is helping improve the economy’s long-term outlook. That’s the assessment from John Locke Foundation President John Hood. North Carolina’s official unemployment rate for March was 6.3 percent, according to data released this morning...
Click here to view and here to listen to John Hood discussing this Spotlight report. RALEIGH — The past quarter-century of academic scholarship suggests state and local officials can promote economic growth by keeping overall tax and regulatory burdens as low as possible, investing effectively in public safety and the courts, and increasing productivity of...
RALEIGH — Newly revised employment data show that 2013 was the strongest year for job growth in North Carolina since the Great Recession. Those numbers contradict liberal arguments about the impact of policies adopted by the conservative-led General Assembly, according to new analysis from the John Locke Foundation’s president. The N.C. Employment Security Commission’s latest...
Click here to view and here to listen to Tyler Younts discussing this Spotlight report. RALEIGH — North Carolina maintains one of the nation’s most restrictive versions of the Map Act, which can freeze property development within proposed road corridors for years. A new John Locke Foundation Spotlight report documents one Forsyth County case in...
Click here to view and here to listen to Dr. Terry Stoops discussing this Spotlight report. RALEIGH — Two new permanent commissions should help North Carolina leaders decide whether to modify or replace controversial Common Core public school standards. That’s the recommendation the John Locke Foundation’s top education expert puts forward in a new Spotlight...
Click here to view and here to listen to Dr. Roy Cordato discussing this Spotlight report. RALEIGH — Local governments should focus on using existing revenues more efficiently, monitoring the effectiveness of school funding, and simplifying rules for land use and zoning. Those are three key recommendations in the John Locke Foundation’s new City and...
RALEIGH — New employment data from the federal government continue to poke holes in arguments from left-of-center activists about the decline in North Carolina’s labor force participation. That’s the assessment from John Locke Foundation President John Hood. “These activists argue that North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory and the Republican-led General Assembly hurt the state’s economy...
RALEIGH — Newly released employment data show signs of growing strength in the North Carolina economy, with the second-highest reported annual increase in new jobs in the state since the onset of the Great Recession. That’s the assessment of John Locke Foundation President John Hood. The rate of job growth has increased in North Carolina...
Click here to view and here to listen to Dr. Roy Cordato discussing this Spotlight report. RALEIGH — Taxpayers in every income category will save tens of millions of dollars because of state tax reforms enacted in North Carolina in 2013. Combining 2013 reforms with a 2011 sales-tax rate reduction pushed by the Republican-led General...