State Treasurer Dale Folwell is drawing attention to North Carolina’s No. 2 ranking in a new assessment of states’ economic outlook. The Tar Heel State trails only Utah in the ranking from the American Legislative Exchange Council. “This is tremendous news for North Carolina,” Folwell said in a news release. “I applaud the General Assembly...
The 2021 governors’ report was released by the free-market-focused American Legislative Exchange Council in late March, and many conservatives were surprised that Democratic N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper received a better-than-average rating on his performance. Cooper had the fourth-best ranking for a Democrat and was 22nd overall among the 50 state governors. But analysts, including ALEC’s...
Things are quiet this week on Jones Street in Raleigh, even as work on a state budget plan, which the governor may or may not sign, looms in the legislature. The N.C. Senate on June 25 approved its budget proposal, supported by all Republicans and a handful of Democrats. The House, though, probably won’t take...
North Carolina was seventh-best among states for its economic outlook, says the 2018 edition of the American Legislative Exchange Council’s Rich States, Poor States. ALEC, a nonpartisan membership organization of state legislators, has ranked states on economic outlook and performance for 11 years. Due to what ALEC calls a record of substantive pro-growth tax cuts,...
SAN ANTONIO, Texas — When it comes to disputes about free speech, “snowflakes” occupy both sides of the aisle. Once sacred ground for conservatives, protected without attention to ideology or association, free speech and the First Amendment are under attack from all sides, said Robert Shibley, executive director of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education....
Terry Stoops on teacher pay debate; Pat McCrory, John Hood, Jonathan Williams & Gregg Thompson on tax reform benefits; voting record questions prompt call for investigation; John Dudley on Americans for Prosperity goals; Dallas Woodhouse on Carolina Rising
Rick Henderson on progressives' criticism of a national free-market organization; legislators debate car inspection rules; Marco Rubio on the 2012 election; Thomas Thibeault on WWII; Roy Cordato on reforming N.C. policies.
RALEIGH — Recent polling hinted at, and two studies now confirm, the public’s intuition about school spending: Americans aren’t getting the achievement “bang for the bucks” their governments are spending. One national report found that increased spending doesn’t necessarily lead to better test scores. In NC, two professors found that school policy factors account, at most, for 10 to 20 percent of the variation in student achievement. The authors concluded that NC might want to focus on socioeconomic problems rather than putting so much emphasis on education spending.
