Over the past month, Americans have descended into a heated debate about “critical race theory,” and a bill aimed at banning it has made North Carolina the latest battleground. The controversy over the legislation, titled H.B. 234, has drawn some questionable allegations about what it would do. Would the bill really incite “a fear-based approach...
Test results in reading, math, and science for the 2020-21 school year show the effects school closures and remote learning have had on public school students in North Carolina. According to data released by the N.C. State Board of Education on Wednesday, Sept. 1, student performance was lower in all content areas and grades and...
As an academic dean of library services for the past 40 years, I think I have a good eye for what constitutes censorship. Cancel culture, a new term for an old and deadly form of silencing your enemies has recently shown its ugly face and has unmistakably assumed the role of free speech bullies. Not...
One of the most hotly debated bills of the legislative section cleared its final hurdle Wednesday, Sept. 1, and now heads to Gov. Roy Cooper, who could add the measure to his growing list of vetoes. House Bill 324, Ensuring Dignity and Nondiscrimination in Schools, passed a concurrence vote in the N.C. House by a...
A statewide campaign launched by the John Locke Foundation — publisher of The Carolina Journal — urges public school teachers to save $500 in dues each year by leaving the partisan N.C. Association of Educators. The billboards are present in high-population areas of the state, including the two largest school districts of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and Wake...
Tax dollars fund North Carolina’s public charter schools. But those schools operate — by design — outside the traditional district school system. That setup has prompted an interesting legal question: How closely is a charter school tied to state government? Two recent court cases are giving judges at the state and federal level a chance...
Jim Copland, senior fellow and director of legal policy at the Manhattan Institute, discusses House Bill 324, the state Senate’s version of a bill addressing Critical Race Theory concepts in N.C. public schools. (Watch the full 21-minute conversation here.) Learn more about Copland’s work on Critical Race Theory: “How to regulate Critical Race Theory in...
A new study commissioned by the N.C. Cable Telecommunications Association warns that red tape regarding utility pole access could cost the state $3.5 billion in consumer value due to the resulting delays in broadband deployment. After examining broadband expansion programs underway in North Carolina, the report found that if changes aren’t made to address unreasonable...
Dr. Terry Stoops, director of the Center for Effective Education at the John Locke Foundation, discusses the first report from Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson’s FACTS task force. Learn more here: “FACTS task force releases first report documenting bias, indoctrination in public schools.”
If you have children, you’ve probably played the board game “Life.” Players reach a key crossroad early in the game: Choose to go to college, which sets you back a few spaces but ups your odds of winning the game, or choose not to, which puts you ahead briefly but may hurt you in the...
Gov. Roy Cooper’s latest veto targets a bill that would have tweaked oversight of public charter schools in North Carolina. Cooper’s rejection of House Bill 729 marks his fifth veto this year and 58th veto since he took office in 2017. The governor specifically rejected a piece of H.B. 729 that would have changed the...
