North Carolina policymakers debate education savings accounts.
The final of three debates on challenges facing North Carolina’s education system is slated for Wednesday evening, November 1, in Benson at the W. J. Barefoot Auditorium. This time experts will focus on education funding in North Carolina. In the 2023 Hometown Debate series, a collaboration between the North Carolina Institute of Political Leadership and...
Follow the money, the saying goes. In this year’s election, the money leans left. School choice is the target. You can see it in the race for state superintendent and, subtly, in the fight for state Supreme Court. Democratic superintendent nominee Jennifer Mangrum has outraised Republican Catherine Truitt by more than a five-to-one margin. Campaign...
GREENSBORO — Community leaders, school choice advocates, and religious leaders gathered at Next Generation Academy on Monday, April 15, in support of a bill to help charter schools cover the cost of getting students to their classrooms. The Frederick Douglass Foundation of North Carolina and Douglass Leadership Institute — nonprofits pushing for education reform —...
A controversial Oct. 15 resolution passed by the national board of the NAACP calling for a nationwide moratorium on public charter schools has led some North Carolina lawmakers and school-choice advocates to question whether the NAACP is more beholden to powerful lobbies supporting traditional public schools than to the African-American families the organization claims to...
Some North Carolina charter school operators feel that state officials are “nitpicking” and piling on regulations, actions that not only hamper their ability to operate their schools but also counter many of the purposes of charter schools. “We’re supposed to be innovative and creative in order to make things happen,” said Eugene Slocum, administrator at...
A state House committee on Wednesday looked at some of the successes and pitfalls neighboring Tennessee’s Achievement School District has experienced as lawmakers pondered ways to turn around some of the state’s worst performing schools. The House Select Committee on Achievement School Districts heard from Malika Anderson, Tennessee’s Achievement School District superintendent, along with Vanderbilt University...
RALEIGH — An advocacy group has raised concerns about a provision stuck into last year’s budget requiring charter schools to maintain a $50,000 reserve to pay off final expenses in the event the school closes. Schools are allowed to have the money in an escrow account, or through a letter of credit, a bond, or a deed of trust. Critics of the requirement say it puts community-based and urban schools at a disadvantage.
HIGH POINT — Adding to High Point’s problems was the controversy surrounding incumbent Mayor Bernita Sims. In October the City Council approved a resolution requesting her resignation following a State Bureau of Investigation probe into the handling of her late sister’s estate. The 6-3 vote was along racial lines, prompting accusations of racial bias against the city’s first black mayor.
RALEIGH — Unless the cap on Opportunity Scholarships is lifted, a lottery will have to be held to determine which children can receive the vouchers for the 2014-15 school year, because more students applied for the scholarships than the number of slots available. More than 5,500 children filed applications, but the General Assembly provided funding for only 2,400.
RALEIGH — In a state primary race with national implications, House Speaker Thom Tillis, R-Mecklenburg, defeated seven other candidates and won the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat held by freshman Democrat Kay Hagan. Supreme Court Justice Robin Hudson, a Democrat, was able to survive a challenge from Republicans Eric Levinson and Jeanette Doran and will face Levinson in the general election.
