Red Clay Citizen

Bev: The Edumakashun Guvaner

Gov. Perdue at her latest "Taxapolooza" tour stop:

NC charter schools: Help from the feds?

North Carolina's cap on charter schools may jeopardize the state ability to compete for more than $4 billion in “Race to the Top” federal funds.  That according to a June 9th press release from the Department of Education.

There has been growing support across North Carolina to lift the cap. Earlier this year the House approved HB 856 which raises the cap to 106. The legislation also makes charter schools subject to very stringent accountability provisions -- strong enough for a number of charter school advocates to oppose the legislation.

Will the rumblings from the feds be enough to get lawmakers to finally lift the cap? Who knows, the lure of federal money has been known to do some strange things. 

Education Budget Bullets

There were a few old issues dealt with in the new budget proposed in the NC House.

• In-state tuition for out-of-state athletes has been cut.

• The Learn & Earn online program of the Community Colleges has been cut.

• The Millennium Speakers Series at NC State, formerly run by Mary Easley has been cut.

One item conspicuously absent from the cuts:

Instate tuition at community colleges for illegal aliens.

Smaller Classes: Let's not let the facts get in the way.

Democrats and educators are in an all-out assault to restore cuts to the proposed House education budget. One of the biggest spoils in this battle is a provision to raise average class size by two students. The change would save the state about $644 million over two years. As we might expect the North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE), the state’s largest teachers union, declared the cuts the end of the world as we know it.  Hogwash.  There isn’t the time to review the checkered research surrounding class size. Suffice it to say it’s sketchy and far from conclusive. My friend Terry Stoops of the John Locke Foundation does a good job of explaining that in the June issue of Carolina Journal.

We often forget California invested heavily in programs to reduce class size, close to $16 billion over ten years.  According to Lance Izumi, Director of Education Studies at the Pacific Research Institute, the state has little to show for it.  After analyzing the program, researchers found no association between the number of years a student has been in smaller classes and student achievement.  

Despite a growing body of research that better teaching is the key to improving student achievement, many legislators continue to live under the spell that class size is a key determinant of academic achievment. It's time to shatter that myth.

North Carolinian leads charter school to success in California

Betsy’s page has a great post about the success of the American Indian Charter School in California.

According to an article in the LA Times, the school took off when the administration decided to reject multiculturalism for multiculturalism’s sake and focus only on academics.

"You think the Jews and the Chinese are dumb enough to ask the public school to teach them their culture?" said former American Indian Charter school principal, and North Carolina native, Dr. Ben Chavis.

Though the school serves mostly minority and under privileged students, it has some of the highest test scores in California.

This is just one more example that proves a free market in education works. Why has it taken the General Assembly this long to even think about raising the cap on charter schools here?

House Education Budget Cuts: A Little Context

Selected Budget Reductions House Education Budget 2009-2010
Proposed Reduction From 2008-09 Funding Level	Percentage Reduction from Current Workforce	#State-Funded Positions 2007-08	#State-Funded Positions 2000-01	Percentage Increase 2000-2008	#State-Funded  Positions as % of All Positions in Classification
6005 Classroom Teachers	7.0 %	85,575	72, 087	19%	87%
4,663 Teacher Assistants	20%	22,441	21,734	3%	76%
354 Instructional Support Staff	3%	10,316	8,415	22%	75%
187 Assistant Principals	10%	1,908	1,788	7%	66%

Source: North Carolina Public Schools Statistical Profile for Years 2001 and 2008.

NCAE has declared war on the House’s proposed cuts to the FY2009-2010 budget for public schools. The rhetoric and the numbers have been flying about, so the above table gives a little context to the proposals.

Raising the class size by two will eliminate 6,000 teachers. However according the UNC General Administration, North Carolina is facing a teacher deficit of 5,400 teachers this year and 5,200 teachers in 2010. Thus, with likely retirements and re-hires my guess is the 6,000 figure is likely to significantly lower.

The elimination of 4,600 teacher assistants is the most significant reduction. However it should be noted even with the cuts, the state would still be funding 17,780 teacher assistants. In addition if funded to current levels, local and federal sources would be providing funding for approximately another 7,200 more teacher assistants.

Instructional Support Staff.  The 3 percent reduction is likely to include counselors, media instructors and librarians. Instructional support staff has increased 30 percent since 2000. Over the same time period the number of teachers increased 19 percent.

Assistant Principals.  A total of 1,908 assistant principals were funded by the state in 2008. Local and Federal funds accounted for approximately another 1,000 positions. A proposed 10 percent reduction would still leave NC with over 1,700 state-funded assistant principals statewide.

Reader Feedback on Sex Ed Post

We got some feed back on the post about the Sex Ed Bill. 

Red Clay reader Porter Jennings took issue with my characterization of the bill as leftist:

"The bill gives parents the choice of what kind of sex ed their children get at school, comprehensive, abstinence only, or none.

That doesn't seem like such a leftist idea.

Why are you against letting parents decide what kind of sex education their children receive?"

I am glad you brought up the idea of parental choice.  The devil is in the details. 

Despite Jennings regurgitation of the left's talking points, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that he may not be aware that under current statute, local schools systems can and do already teach so-called comprehensive sex ed; AFTER a public hearing and a recorded vote by the elected school board.

Now, why would this process need to be changed?  Apparently, when sufficient light is shed on the topic, local school boards have a hard time imposing their will on the community when the board's views are out of step with the local community.

Sure, you can get it passed in Orange County or Wilmington, but how about Iredell or Catawba?

This bill will side step the democratic process and push an agenda from liberal areas of the state into conservative areas.

Additionally, the default language that is in dispute is to include children in comprehensive education if their parents fail to return the permission slip.  So much for honoring the wishes of the parent.

NCAE Education Poll: A Second Look

Faced with managing a $3 billion state budget deficit, the House education budget writers have proposed nearly $1 billion in cuts and the loss of thousands of teacher jobs. The plan has also sent the North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE), the lobbyists for the teachers unions into “war mode”.

NCAE’s first shot was release of a survey conducted by an “independent research firm” that shows strong support for more revenue for public education. An NCAE press release gushed:

When asked how to balance the state budget, 85 percent of survey respondents said they opposed cutting the number of teachers in public schools and raising class sizes. No other category of how to fix the budget – including proposals to raise taxes – received more opposition than cuts to education spending.

NCAE says the polling “was conducted by independent research firm, Anzalone/Liszt Research out of Washington DC.  Google lists the Anzalone/Liszt as a “full service democratic polling and public opinion research firm.”  More helpful information about the “independent research firm” is available from the Anzalone/Liszt web site:

Anzalone Liszt had a great 2008!  We helped deliver the crucial Southern states of Florida, North Carolina, and Virginia to President-elect Barack Obama.  For the second straight cycle we helped defeat an incumbent U.S. Senator by electing Kay Hagan in North Carolina.  Additionally our firm helped protect 14 Democratic congressional incumbents, flip two Republican open seats (AL-02 / IL-11) and defeat two Republican incumbents (NV-03 / NC-08).  We helped elect statewide candidates in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and West Virginia and helped sustain Democratic majorities in the Illinois, North Carolina, and Colorado State Senates.  Congratulations to all our winners!

The firm also thought you’d be interested to know:  “In 2006, Anzalone Liszt Research beat more incumbent Republicans (five) than any other polling firm in the nation.” 

Those descriptions sure shout “independent” to me.

Sex Ed Bill Delayed in Committee

The craftily named "Healthy Youth Act" HB88 hit a speed bump in the NC Senate's Mental Health and Youth Services Committee on Wednesday.  This yet another attempt by the left to add so-called "comprehensive" sex education to the current abstinence based curriculum taught in North Carolina's schools.

Despite having a stacked committee of supporters in the meeting and a motion for a favorable report from Senator Charlie Dannelly (D-Mecklenburg), no vote was held in the committee.

Something is going on here.  This bill was pushed through the House last month and appeared to be headed for passage in the Senate.  Once the bill hit the Senate, unusual things began to happen to the legislative process. 

Try to stay with me here: First, it was sent to the Health Committee, then withdrawn and sent to the Mental Health and Youth Services Committee where it received a favorable report and was sent to the floor of the Senate for final approval. It was then bumped from the floor calendar and sent back to the Mental Health and Youth Services Committee and then withdrawn and sent back to the floor. It was then withdrawn again from the calendar and resent again to the Mental Health and Youth Services Committee where the vote was delayed yesterday. 

With only two Conservatives (Sen. Jim Forrester (R-Gaston) and Sen. Jim Jacumin (R-Caldwell)) openly opposing the bill in committee, passage would appear likely.  Could Senate Rules Chairman Tony Rand (D-Cumberland) be holding the bill hostage? If so, why?

Another observation from the committee was the number of leftist organizations pushing for the bill's passage: ACLU, Planned Parenthood, National Organization for Women (NOW), NC Action for the Children, NCAE and Equality NC (aka the homosexual lobby).  Know a bill by its friends. 

"Bullying Bill" on Legislative Fast Track

The liberal left in the Legislature is wasting no time in pushing the latest effort to recognize and protect homosexual behavior in North Carolina's schools.  After being defeated in the Senate last year, gay advocates have refiled the bill in the NC Senate with a freakishly large title and pushed it through earlier this month.  The title of a bill is important.  Once a bill is on the floor, under the rules, it cannot be amended if that amendment would make the bill inconsistent with the title.  With a title well over 200 words in length, no floor amendments can realistically be heard.

Make no mistake, the fix is in on this bill.  During yesterday's House Education Committee meeting, Republican Leader Paul Stam (R-Wake) was not allowed to present a proposed committee substitute that would have outlawed all bullying in schools without the identifying language.  The bill will again be heard in the Education Committee tomorrow and will most likely be on the House floor sometime next week.

The rush on this bill is perplexing given the huge impact it will have on our state.  Despite the lack of change in the legislature during the last election, (ruling Democrats actually lost a seat in the Senate and remained the same in the House) liberals have begun to spin Novemeber as a huge leftist mandate that must be repaid during this session of the General Assembly.

Word behind the scenes is that a number of religious leaders are taking notice of what's being passed in Raleigh and the resulting email battle is heating up.  One motivating factor for citizens in the hinterlands is the complete lack of movement on the Defense of Marriage Act while several bills favorable to the homosexual movement continue to advance.