RALEIGH — There is growing skepticism that adding five days was an efficient way to improve performance. Moreover, the General Assembly did not fund additional days in the state budget, forcing districts either to cut teacher work days or ask the state for waivers.
ASHEVILLE — Located on a wooded four-acre neighborhood campus, the 160 students in grades K-8 attend the public charter school. It has no principals or administrators. It is run by the teachers.
RALEIGH — School-choice backers said that the nonprofit Charter Management Organizations surveyed in the study dealt with a challenging student population, making their results even more impressive.
KINSTON — Charlotte is the only city in North Carolina that gives its mayor veto powers. The General Assembly controls the charters of all cities, towns, and villages in the state, so legislative action was required to give Kinston voters the opportunity to decide it they wanted a mayoral veto.
WINSTON-SALEM — One of the school’s main goals when it moved into the neighborhood nine years ago was to bring art to this somewhat downtrodden community. Art is integrated with every aspect of the educational experience, even bringing it outside the four walls of the building.
DURHAM — The school has faced a lot of obstacles since its inception. Since the North Carolina General Assembly would not give extra funds for building, Healthy Start had to find an existing structure to host the school. The founders settled on the site of a century-old former Baptist church.
RALEIGH — The new law limits assessments on the state’s insurers at $1 billion in the case of a catastrophic coastal storm. If the damage is worse than that, the residents of the state will have to pick up the rest of the tab.
RALEIGH — Rep. Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, said members of the General Assembly who opposed the bill should think twice after several Wake County voters were charged with voter fraud in August. He said those incidents are just the tip of the iceberg.
RALEIGH — Public opposition to teacher tenure rose slightly, from 47 percent in 2010 to 49 percent in 2011. Meantime, tenure has become more popular than ever among teachers, with 53 percent supporting it in 2011, up from 48 percent last year.
KINSTON — The panel of three judges in the appeals court concluded that plaintiff John Nix could suffer a loss if he is forced to run as a candidate in partisan elections because Democrats in Kinston tend to vote along party lines. The panel said the lawsuit must proceed.
RALEIGH — Fiscal conservatives say property that has commercial value and is not needed for state operations should generate tax revenues. Liberals warn against shedding property that is used to provide essential public services.
