FY 2013-14 Senate Budget Proposal: Large Tax Cut, Spending Nearly Identical to McCrory’s Plan
Last night, the North Carolina state Senate unveiled its two year state budget proposal. Total spending included for FY 2013-14 comes to $20.58 billion, which would be roughly $400 million higher than the current year’s budget, good for a 2.3 percent increase. The Senate’s plan is about $17 million less than Gov. McCrory’s budget proposal [...]
Expert Highlights Dangers in Common Core Standards
Last fall public schools in North Carolina along with 44 other states began implementing Common Core Standards. The standards — developed by academic experts and private trade associations with the financial backing of several large foundations — have unleashed a brushfire of criticism, fueled in part by the controversial ideas behind Common Core, parental anger [...]
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Guiding the NC Elections Board – to the Left
Supporters of public campaign financing have long claimed that it would never have a partisan slant. But the latest Civitas investigation has found how one liberal activist has taken control of the process. In the first article of this series, we revealed the disturbing relationship Bob Hall, a liberal lobbyist for Democracy NC, has with [...]
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HB 298, Affordable and Reliable Energy Act: Ending the Waste
I’m really enjoying riding the wild, wacky merry-go-round of North Carolina’s renewable energy mandates. Yesterday, I got my bill from Duke Energy Progress, or whatever it is this week. I sure was glad that by paying it I was helping out the beleaguered pig farmers of North Carolina. That’s sarcasm, if you didn’t guess. State [...]
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NC Budget Writers Should Beware of the Power of Compounding Expenditures
For savers, compounding interest can be a great thing. It helps to accelerate the rate of increase of your money in the bank. For state budgets, however, the concept of compounding budgetary increases can rapidly create out-of-control spending obligations. For state budget writers tempted to think it safe to increase spending by, say, 4.5 percent [...]
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Cases Show How Easy Vote Fraud Is in NC
Anyone that has brought a challenge before a local board of elections knows that it is not a simple or easy process. In order to challenge a voter in North Carolina, the challenge can only be made if the challenger “knows, suspects or reasonably believes” a person is not “qualified and entitled to vote.” (NCGS [...]
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3 Big Errors in N&O Voucher Op-Ed
Not true – that’s my response to the oped by Yevonne Brannon and Nick Rhodes in last week’s News & Observer about school vouchers and their supposed harmful impacts on students and schools. Let’s look at three of the biggest errors. Brannon and Rhodes claim the current voucher (up to $4,200 for eligible students and [...]
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Bill Gives Students Real Choice in Education
Earlier this week Representatives Rob Bryan (R-Mecklenburg), Brian Brown (R-Pitt) and Marcus Brandon (D-Guilford) introduced HB 944, the Opportunity Scholarship Act. The legislation allows children from families with limited financial resources to apply for a scholarship grant of up to $4,200 per year. The grants could be used to help pay for tuition and fees, books, [...]
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The Devil’s in the Details of Senate Bill 666, “Election Law Changes”
Senate Bill 666 “Election Law Changes” may include one or two laudable suggestions (namely the elimination of Same Day Registration), but in trying to reinforce voter registration rules for college students, the legislation stumbles into other problems. Now before the North Carolina General Assembly, SB 666 would prohibit state income tax dependency deductions for qualifying [...]
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Common Core: Worse than you Think
The second of two parts. In a previous article, I highlighted questionable assumptions underlying national Common Core Standards (CCS) in English and mathematics, which in 2010 were adopted by the North Carolina State Board of Education. Let’s look at CCS’s three other major flaws. Diminished Parental and State Influence Imposing CCS on the nation’s schools [...]
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The Real Victims of the Racial Justice Act, Part III
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Civitas Action To Grade Energy Bill
Yesterday morning, Civitas Action alerted legislators to House Bill 298, the Affordable and Reliable Energy Act, indicating its support, and promised to include the bill in its future rankings. The notice is reproduced below. Dear Legislator, House Bill 298, Affordable and Reliable Energy Act, is a measure that would protect struggling North Carolinians from the [...]
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Common Core Standards Will Impose an Unproven ‘One Size Fits All’ Curriculum on North Carolina
In 2010 the North Carolina State Board of Education unanimously adopted national Common Core Standards (CCS) in English and mathematics. The standards — spearheaded by two independent organizations, the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers — were developed to better prepare students for college or careers and make American students [...]
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VIDEO: The Real Victims of the Racial Justice Act, Part 2
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Confessions of a Young Hispanic Conservative
Photo Voter ID? Love it. No income tax? Sign me up. Concealed Carry? I’m packing heat. Supporter of small business entrepreneurs? Of course! My name is Victoria Wakefield, I am 21, Hispanic, and conservative. To many people, this is puzzling; to some, it is an oxymoron. In fact, many a Thanksgiving dinner has been thick [...]
Weekly Newsletter
@NCCivitas
- SB 306 “Capital Punishments/Amendments” – You Will Never Live Long Enough to See Justice Done http://t.co/jxGeLAgmXs #ncpol
- Rapidly Growing Burden of State Retiree Benefits http://t.co/PzpZV9OqdI #ncpol
- Medicaid Blues http://t.co/iX6ffoOOT8 #ncpol #ncgop
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