School  is back in session, and that means teachers are back in classrooms. But to hear some politicians and education bureaucrats tell the story, a lot of North Carolina teachers are out of work due to the new state budget. John Locke Foundation Director of Education Studies Terry Stoops separates fact from fiction on teaching jobs and funding, including the typical job trends and  job losses that occur during summer. Then we focus specifically on public charter school reforms. North Carolina lawmakers lifted the state’s cap on public charter schools this year. Now advocates are looking ahead to other changes they would like to see in state charter school regulation. Eddie Goodall, president of the N.C. Alliance for Public Charter Schools, and Sen. Richard Stevens, R-Wake, address charter advocates’ concerns. Next is a look at a state division some folks rarely hear about and which is getting more popular. While most state agencies are coping with budget cuts this year, the General Assembly’s Program Evaluation Division is adding positions. Director John Turcotte recently discussed with lawmakers the reasons for his division’s popularity with state budget writers. That’s followed by a look the sputtering economy and the need for private-sector job creation. While many taxpayers and voters have been clamoring for government to help create new jobs, that’s not government’s proper role. That’s the opinion of Duke University economist and political scientist Michael Munger. Munger discussed government’s proper role in job creation during a recent presentation to the John Locke Foundation’s Shaftesbury Society. And finally, John Locke Foundation Director of Research Michael Sanera talks about the prevalence of cities and counties investing in facilities and industries that compete with private business. Sanera discusses city-owned golf courses, other entertainment venues, and convention centers and why they fall outside the appropriate role of government and, in the process, disadvantage local businesses.