A legislative session that was widely seen as successful came to a close late July 1 after legislators gave final approval to the centerpiece of every Short Session
Published: Saturday, July 9th, 2016 @ 8:01 am
By: Civitas Insitute
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While teacher pay raises headlined education issues during North Carolina's 2016-17 legislative session, several other key policy changes were packed into the K-12 agenda, including measures that will provide performance-based bonuses for top educators across the state
Published: Thursday, July 7th, 2016 @ 9:22 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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The House is scheduled to consider special school reform bill today, HB 1080. Rep. Rob Bryan (R-Mecklenburg) is championing legislation focused on giving our state more tools to help failing schools
Published: Monday, June 6th, 2016 @ 7:59 pm
By: Civitas Insitute
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North Carolina families are hungry for school choice. To wit: the state’s opportunity scholarship program has had more than 15,000 eligible applicants since its inception just two years ago
Published: Saturday, June 4th, 2016 @ 4:26 pm
By: Civitas Insitute
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By a 60-49 vote, the state House on Thursday passed a bill that would temporarily remove five of North Carolina's lowest-performing public schools from their districts, placing them instead under the supervision of an Achievement School District
Published: Saturday, June 4th, 2016 @ 6:09 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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After some debate, a bill that would allow five of North Carolina's lowest-performing schools to be taken over by the state as part of a major rehabilitation effort passed on May 25 in the House Committee for K-12 Education
Published: Wednesday, June 1st, 2016 @ 10:01 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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Tennessee lawmakers will vote Feb. 11 on the Tennessee Choice and Opportunity Scholarship Act, a law that would allow parents of low-income students to use up to $6,628 of public money to attend private school.
Published: Monday, May 9th, 2016 @ 9:55 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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State Rep. Edward Hanes, D-Forsyth, said a proposed Achievement School District that would operate with charter school flexibility is a step in the right direction to turn around low-performing schools that are "death traps" for the prospects of minority children.
Published: Thursday, February 25th, 2016 @ 3:40 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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Recent statements by Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) officials about changing several low-performing traditional schools to year-round schools, and also changing how students are assigned to popular magnet school programs, have raised the anxiety levels of many parents and students.
Published: Saturday, January 23rd, 2016 @ 1:28 pm
By: Civitas Insitute
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How do North Carolinians feel about their schools and how their children are educated? The November Civitas Poll provided plenty of good information about those topics.
Published: Tuesday, January 19th, 2016 @ 4:38 am
By: Civitas Insitute
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The State Board of Education will consider again in February a proposal enabling failing traditional public schools to apply for an exemption easing some state regulations so they can operate more like charter schools.
Published: Tuesday, January 5th, 2016 @ 10:17 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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Alexa Bloom has a master's degree in special education instruction, so she knew her son, Julian, was going to need a flexible approach to learning. When Julian was just 18 months old, doctors diagnosed him with autism and a severe sensory and auditory processing disorder...
Published: Saturday, October 24th, 2015 @ 1:07 pm
By: Civitas Insitute
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North Carolina has been talking for years about fixing failing schools, but so far it is mostly talk.
Published: Saturday, September 5th, 2015 @ 10:14 pm
By: Tom Campbell
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State Rep. Rob Bryan plans to introduce legislation creating a pilot program transforming as many as five perpetually failing elementary schools into charter-like entities under a new Achievement School District with its own superintendent.
Published: Wednesday, August 26th, 2015 @ 5:55 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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One of the most popular options for expanding educational opportunity is the Education Savings Account (ESA). Currently five states - Arizona, Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee and Nevada - have passed ESA legislation, and at least 10 other states have bills in the works.
Published: Wednesday, August 26th, 2015 @ 10:16 am
By: Civitas Insitute
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A new Civitas Poll of registered North Carolina voters shows they are open to options for schools, assessment of students, and education funding.
Published: Friday, July 17th, 2015 @ 12:04 am
By: Civitas Insitute
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If you were tuning in to discover the direction of your nation for the next year, you would have been sadly misinformed.
Published: Friday, January 30th, 2015 @ 8:21 am
By: Stan Deatherage
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At the end of October, the Department of Education released its much-awaited "gainful employment" rule.
Published: Friday, December 5th, 2014 @ 11:28 pm
By: John William Pope Center
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For many years, state education and political leaders promised increasing our "investment" in public schools was the key to raising student achievement for disadvantaged students.
Published: Friday, August 22nd, 2014 @ 8:46 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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Imagine the important things in your life: your spouse, your home, your favorite football team. What do they all have in common? You were able to choose them, not have them assigned to you by the political class.
Published: Wednesday, June 18th, 2014 @ 12:27 am
By: Civitas Insitute
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Momma always said you can learn more listening than you can speaking, so now that a judge has called a temporary halt to North Carolina's school voucher program let's spend time in listening to both sides of this issue. And the best way to get information is to ask questions.
Published: Saturday, March 1st, 2014 @ 5:01 am
By: Tom Campbell
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Supporters of North Carolina's fledgling Opportunity Scholarships program see the motion granted Friday by a Superior Court judge placing the plan on hold as little more than a temporary setback. Advocates of the 2013 measure, which would have provided up to 2,400 low-income public school...
Published: Wednesday, February 26th, 2014 @ 4:08 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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The great American ethic is that money will buy anything. It is particularly true in the political world. We try to buy everything from international friendship to better schools to votes to taxpayer support for some behavior that politicians believe we should embrace.
Published: Monday, January 6th, 2014 @ 11:47 am
By: Jim Bispo
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Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger and House Speaker Thom Tillis issued the following joint statement today in response to a lawsuit filed by the North Carolina affiliate of the national teachers’ union and a liberal special interest group.
Published: Thursday, December 12th, 2013 @ 12:29 am
By: Stan Deatherage
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I found a quite provocative post on a great new web site called The Federalist about North Carolina's public school system and its finances - a subject that Bill Barber and his mob, and their media lapdogs have been beating us over the head with.
Published: Monday, October 14th, 2013 @ 11:12 am
By: Brant Clifton
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North Carolina lawmakers have devoted much of their time in recent years to expanding parental choice in education. One option they might want to pursue in...
Published: Wednesday, June 26th, 2013 @ 3:10 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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Not true - that's my response to the oped by Yevonne Brannon and Nick Rhodes in last week's News & Observer about school vouchers and their supposed harmful impacts on students and schools.
Published: Monday, April 29th, 2013 @ 6:29 pm
By: Stan Deatherage
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There is no shortage of ways to expand school choice in our state. Traditional options include encouraging alternative education options like charter schools, private schools, home schools and online education.
Published: Tuesday, November 20th, 2012 @ 5:01 am
By: Civitas Insitute
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The number of students attending public charter schools continues to rise, and Durham Public Schools is ranked 21st nationally, the only district in North Carolina with 10 percent or more of its students in charter schools.
Published: Monday, November 19th, 2012 @ 5:26 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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There was no disguising harsh sentiments between candidates for state superintendent of public instruction at a public forum in Raleigh Monday night when incumbent Democrat June Atkinson and Republican challenger John Tedesco clashed over a 90-minute span.
Published: Wednesday, October 17th, 2012 @ 11:29 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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The Sept. 18 "Lunch and Learn: School Choice - the Road Ahead" highlighted wide public support for giving parents and students more choices in where they go to school.
Published: Sunday, September 23rd, 2012 @ 4:15 am
By: Civitas Insitute
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Excitement about school choice is helping to remake North Carolina public and private schools. Enrollment in charter schools is exploding.
Published: Friday, August 31st, 2012 @ 1:23 pm
By: Civitas Insitute
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School choice in North Carolina recently hit a major roadblock when Superior Court Judge Abraham Jones barred a virtual charter school from operating in the state.
Published: Wednesday, July 25th, 2012 @ 12:25 pm
By: Civitas Insitute
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