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  • Smart Start Partnership Re-Awards Multi-Million Dollar Contract to Mismanaging Non-Profit

    Posted in Education, Life & Family Issues by Andrew Henson on June 28, 2011

    In a controversial decision that followed heated opposition by the public and alarming questions raised by the members of the board, Durham County’s Partnership for Children voted to re-award a multimillion dollar contract to a non-profit with a very troubled past. The Durham County Partnership for Children is the local Smart Start branch in Durham [...]

  • Session Filled With Steps – And Missteps – to Redirect and Reshape Public Education

    Posted in Education, Legislative Activity by Bob Luebke on June 23, 2011

    With Republican majorities in the House and Senate for the first time in over 100 years, the recently-completed legislative session marks a new period in North Carolina political history. Last November, conservative themes of accountability, expanding educational freedom, and local control helped to propel many candidates to victory. Soon after the election, Republicans proposed a [...]

  • Dues Check Off Bill Advances

    Posted in Education by Bob Luebke on June 10, 2011

    Yesterday the House approved on straight party lines (71-47) legislation (SB 727) to eliminate the association dues check off option for active and retired public school employees. The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Ralph Hise (R-Mitchell), would essentially end the practice of having state government administer the periodic deduction of membership dues and contributions for members [...]

  • Parents Angry as Children Drawn into Budget Controversy

    Posted in Education by Bob Luebke on June 9, 2011

    Third grade students at Tramway Elementary school in Sanford find themselves in the middle of a growing controversy to determine whether school officials crossed a line when they asked students to write letters to lawmakers in support of more funding for public education. The latest chapter in the month-long story was added this week when [...]

  • Backgrounds of High-Performing Teachers in Wake County: Not What You Would Expect

    Posted in Education by Bob Luebke on June 6, 2011

    Two weeks ago, amid all the discussion and wrangling over the state budget, the Wake County Public School System released an interesting report that received little attention. Data presented at a May 17th work session of the Wake County School Board showed that significant percentages of Wake County’s high performing teachers have neither an advanced [...]

  • Do Taxpayers Really Need to Subsidize the Study of Surfing and Time Travel?

    Posted in Budget & Taxes, Education by Taylor Holgate on May 25, 2011

    Fearful of the impacts of another round of budget reductions, UNC officials have been working hard to convince the public and lawmakers about just how dire additional budget cuts will be to the UNC system. Hannah Gage, chair of the UNC Board of Governors, recently told the Charlotte Observer that cuts would mean having “to [...]

  • A Little Perspective on Education Budget Reductions

    Posted in Education by Bob Luebke on May 23, 2011

    This could take us back a generation, it could take another generation to come back and I don’t think that’s what the people of North Carolina want. Senate Minority Leader Martin Nesbitt commenting on what he sees as the impact of the proposed state budget for public education. There is no shortage of exaggeration and [...]

  • NCAE’s Averted Gaze

    Posted in Education by Bob Luebke on May 17, 2011

    Let’s not be diverted from the important issues at hand.  That’s the surprising response of officials at the North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE) to a report released last week by the Civitas Institute that said from 2006 to 2009 total compensation for NCAE executives increased 24 percent, while total compensation for the average teacher [...]

  • Education Budget Breakdown

    Posted in Budget & Taxes, Education by Andrew Henson on May 17, 2011

    This year’s budget crunch brought varying proposals from the Governor, State Senate, and State House, each differing as to where and how deep the axe should fall on state bureaucracy. This Civitas budget breakdown evaluates the different cuts to the Education budget put forth by each branch of state government. As education funding accounts for [...]

  • NCAE Executive Compensation: Round II

    Posted in Education by Bob Luebke on May 5, 2011

    Last night, Channel 11 WTVD ran a story on my article on NCAE executive compensation. In reference to our assertion that NCAE executive compensation has increased 24 percent between 2006 and 2009, NCAE Business Affairs manager Tom Herbert says the figure is accurate. However,  Herbert says what’s important is what drives those numbers, which he [...]

  • NCAE: Looking Out For Children, Members, or Itself?

    Posted in Education by Bob Luebke on May 3, 2011

    Read NCAE Executive Compensation: Round II The North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE) portrays itself as concerned with the interests of students and public education.  Don’t be fooled by the rhetoric. NCAE represents the interests of approximately 50,000 teachers and public school employees who pay them. NCAE tax documents state the real purpose of its [...]

  • More at Four Consolidation: Administrative Restructuring Helps Kids

    Posted in Education by Andrew Blackburn on May 3, 2011

    The N.C. House recently released its FY 2011-2013 budget, being forced to cut from a swath of programs in order to get the state’s deficit of over $2 billion under control. One organization impacted is the early childcare subsidy program More at Four: losing $32 million in funding. The program is currently administered under the [...]

  • NAACP Attacks Civitas

    Posted in Education on April 26, 2011

    Recently the Civitas Institute conducted a School Board Training session for school board members from across the state. The Winston-Salem Forsyth County School Board co-sponsored the training.  The NAACP led by Rev. William Barber protested at the training session in front of a number of TV news crews. The protesters hurled a number of false [...]

  • House Budget Proposal: Education

    Posted in Budget & Taxes, Education by Bob Luebke on April 14, 2011

    Earlier this week Republican lawmakers released their $10.6 billion budget proposal for public education for the coming fiscal year. Budget discussions have been framed by how lawmakers would address the state’s estimated $2.4 billion budget deficit. In the end, lawmakers sought to roughly balance the reductions across all three components of public education. The overall budget [...]

  • Accreditation: Outlines of a Problem

    Posted in Education by Bob Luebke on April 12, 2011

    Recent actions by school accrediting giant, Advance Education Inc. (AdvancED), have set off a firestorm of public discussion about accreditation, its value and how it is awarded. The interest has been fueled by AdvancED’s decision to place Burke County Schools on probation, and assign Wake County Public Schools – the state’s largest public school system [...]

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