Education Funding

State education spending: the facts
http://nchouse116.com/state-education-spending-the-facts/

K-12 Education Cuts: Outright Lies
http://www.thomgoolsby.com/2013/08/k-12-education-cuts-outright-lies/

Did North Carolina’s budget make Cuts to Education?
http://lockerroom.johnlocke.org/2013/07/25/did-north-carolinas-budget-make-cuts-to-education/

Hoodwinking Education — Lies Continue
http://carolinacolumns.com/thom-goolsby/sen-thom-goolsby-hoodwinking-education-lies-continue

Superintendent salaries across NC
http://nchouse116.com/superintendent-salaries-across-nc/

Chuck McGrady: While the budget did not provide a pay raise for teachers and state employees, what was not noted by many commentators was that the budget did include a reserve for future salary adjustments for teachers and state employees. At several points over the past few years, the State has had to add several million dollars for spiraling Medicaid costs, and the legislature again faced another 'Medicaid surprise' that took pay raises off the table in the first year of the two year budget. If there isn’t another surprise, House leaders have said that pay raises will be their top priority in the 'Short Session' next year. (Note: Since most of the criticism of the budget has focused on funding of education and since I am one of the co-chairs of the House Education Appropriations Subcommittee, I’m going to more fully discuss the funding of education in a future General Assembly Bulletin.)
http://nchouse117.com/so-what-happened/

Local School Teacher Pay Authorization
http://www.scribd.com/doc/161989598/Local-School-Teacher-Pay-Authorization

Setting the Record Straight on School Vouchers
http://www.carolinajournal.com/daily_journal/display.html?id=10102

School Vouchers: From Friedman to the Finish Line
http://www.johnlocke.org/research/show/spotlights/280

School Choice Scholarship Programs Would Not Violate the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution
http://www.ncicl.org/article/793

 

Education Budget:

• Fully funds enrollment growth in K-12, community colleges and the university system.
• Adds $23.6 million to continue funding the Excellent Public Schools Act, which will strengthen student literacy, improve graduation rates and increase accountability.
• Eliminates guaranteed lifetime employment for teachers by replacing the outdated tenure system and employing teachers through contracts that are renewed based on job performance.
• Continues our commitment to implementing a pay for excellence system by including $10.2 million in the second year to fund annual pay raises for the most effective teachers.
• Implements opportunity scholarships in the second year of the biennium.
• Provides funding to implement critical school safety measures, such as resource officers, and expand the use of technology and innovation in schools.
• Eliminates the K-12 flex cut for local school districts, implemented by Democrats under former Gov. Bev Perdue, to make the education budget process fully transparent.
• Restores $33 million in recurring state funds to our community colleges.
• Funds the N.C. Back to Work program, providing nearly $5 million to allow for a more effective job placement program.
• Incorporates the administrative and operational savings, instructional efficiencies and program consolidation efforts identified by the university system in their Strategic Directions Plan.

http://nchouse79.com/news-from-raleigh/

The Impending NC Teacher Shortage
http://www.wwnc.com/pages/petekaliner.html?article=11523768#ixzz2aS9IJJoK

Setting the Record Straight on School Vouchers.
http://www.carolinajournal.com/daily_journal/display.html?id=10102

School Choice Scholarship Programs Would Not Violate the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
http://www.ncicl.org/article/793

Fact: Of the $7.2 billion state public school funds for FY10-11, all but 10.4% was used for salaries & benefits.
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/docs/fbs/resources/data/highlights/2012highlights.pdf

Fact: North Carolina ranks 11th in the Nation & 2nd in the SE for the highest % of funds from State revenue.
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/docs/fbs/resources/data/highlights/2012highlights.pdf

Fact: North Carolina has almost 100,000 teachers and almost 1.5 million students...a ratio of 1 to 15.

Fact: There are 1,786 Central Office Administrators in the state of North Carolina. Some receive packages of over $200,000/year.

Fact: the Asheville City Schools gifted its outgoing Superintendent $175,000 for quitting. That would be $875 for every teacher in the city.

Fact: #AVL City Council gave the Art Museum $2 million. That's $1,000 more every year for every teacher in the city for the next 10 years.

Fact: Average Daily Membership in NC Schools has remained essentially flat while this year's appropriation rose by $400 million.

According to BCS Superintendent Tony Baldwin, NO current employees are expected to lose their jobs with the education budget:
http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013307260053

Lame Media Excuses

Margaret V. Williams

7:27 PM (1 hour ago)

Reply
to me
Aug. 11 query: Why am I being moderated?

Mr. Peck, your status has remained at moderated for some time, largely due to past violations of our comment policy and periodic violations since then.

If you're asking about more recent posts, some have gone through and some have not (some follow our policy, a few do not). When posts aren't allowed, it's because our moderation team determined it violated policy at some level.

The main posts I can think of that have recently been moderated (i.e. disallowed) are repeat attempts to post a video that YouTube took down. If that dispute is resolved, we'd consider allowing it.

If there's another specific post that you'd like to ask about, please do so and I'll consult with other moderators, who may have taken action.

*mvw

GOP may need to step aside, Libertarians told

By Tim Peck
Special to The Asheville Daily Planet
July 2013

Michael Cloud

FLAT ROCK, N.C — "Maybe it's time for the Republican Party to go." So says Libertarian author and speaker Michael Cloud, who delivered the keynote address at this year’s 3-day North Carolina Libertarian Party Convention in Flat Rock on Saturday, June 9.

As the sixty or so attendees dined on the catered buffet in the Sandburg Room at the Mountain Lodge, Cloud spoke to the audience in passionate tones about the arc of Libertarian electoral disappointment. "What seems to be the problem?," Cloud asks. "We have the right ideas. Still, at best, we are only getting about twenty-three percent of the vote in state legislature campaigns.

Cloud then goes on to outline what he sees as the causes and the cures of party woes in an engaging walking-and-talking style, pacing the front of the room and calling on people by name to answer pointed questions. Cloud has distilled his observations down to a few cogent points and lays out a strategy for moving forward.

First, Libertarians are being virtually brainwashed into believing the critics who reflexively claim that Libertarian candidates simply can't win. "It's a disease," he says, that perpetuates a self-fulfilling prophecy that defeats candidates and their supporters before they get started. It's a psychological problem, not a problem of ideas. The ideas are winning, says Cloud. It's only our candidates that are struggling. In his hypothesis, The Impossibility Trap, as Cloud coins it, is often expressed in defeatist terms when supporters are called on to take action: "I like your candidate but I don't want to waste my vote." "You candidate will be a spoiler." "The courts will just strike down any real changes." "And the voting machines are rigged anyway."

Cloud’s retort? “Don’t you buy into it!” These perennial bromides only serve to do one thing: to convince sympathetic voters to take a pass, to turn their attention elsewhere, or to simply do nothing. "We are quitting on the five yard line after a long drive to the goal zone," says Cloud. "We are believing that it's impossible. It's a case of 'learned helplessness,' as some psychologists put it. It's a debilitating condition that can be taught to people and animals alike. If we believe that it's impossible, we're not going to make that extra phone call, we're not going to walk that extra block to knock on doors. We become conditioned to aim lower. And it's a weakness that we must overcome if we are to ever make any advances in the political arena."

Second, Cloud talks about the right ways to think about their underdog political party, about how to go from being a Spoiler to being a Dark Horse to being a Contender. "One, don't faint when someone says, 'hey, that makes sense.' Also, recognize that when we get a fair hearing, we win. It’s our job to get a fair hearing. Next, start modelling possibility behaviors."

Cloud then offers an inspirational analogy to the movie "Rocky" where the themes of humiliation, courage and hard work are played out in dramatic form. When boxer Rocky Balboa quietly agonizes over his poor chances in the ring against his betters, his clear-eyed wife advises him to pick another goal and win that one. His goal of winning is replaced with the goal of ‘going the distance.’ As Rocky pursues his new reachable goal, his supporters are taken with enthusiasm and excitement and eventually cheer him on to his own right-sized victory in the ring. It's a tale work emulating, says Cloud.

Third, Cloud implores his audience to recognize actual incremental success. Election to political office is not necessarily the measure of success. “When we move the ball forward, we are succeeding.”

“Instead of asking people if Gary Johnson can win, ask them, ‘if he could win, would he make a good president? Would he be good for the country?’ If their answer is ‘Yes,’ then ask them, ‘Why?’ You’ll be pleasantly surprised. Ask them, ‘if you and you alone could push a button and elect a candidate, would you push it for Gary Johnson?’”

Here’s a little secret I learned from Mary Kay Ashe. She said, ‘you don’t have to win to win. I failed my way to success, but I kept failing forward.’ If we fail at 4%, then next time we’ll fail at 6%. Recognize that we can make progress and progress is victory.”

In concluding his vigorous pep talk, Cloud makes one final impassioned and definitive plea to his audience:

“Ladies and gentlemen, I ask you: step aside from your impossibility beliefs. Drop your impossibility behavior. Be willing to move forward. Be willing to open new minds. And we will open ourselves to the possibility of liberty in our lifetimes.”

Water Lawsuit

Asheville Water Merger Lawsuit
http://www.scribd.com/doc/141477000/Asheville-Complaint

Analysis

The city has filed a rather weak lawsuit against the state and MSD. Buncombe and Henderson counties are, oddly, not named in the suit.

You can read their complaint on my Scribd account.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/141477000/Asheville-Complaint

The key features of the complaint are that the legislation is unconstitutional, that the bond transfer injures the city, and that the corporation of Asheville is a person.

The city contends that HB488 was a local bill and it is unconstitutional to pass legislation in a local bill that affects sanitation. First, the law does not affect sanitation. It changes operational structure only. Second, the legislation is a public bill and would apply to any municipality that meets the conditions set forth. Therefore, it is constitutional.

The city contends that forcing a transfer of bonds to MSD would jeopardize the city's credit standing. The bonds that Asheville "floated" were Revenue Bonds backed, not by taxpayers, but by current and future water system ratepayers. It doesn't matter who holds those bonds, Asheville or MSD, the ratepayers will always be the obligors. Nothing changes with a transfer of ownership. In fact, handing local government bond transfers is what the state treasurer does on a regular basis. They should be done by now.

The city contends that Asheville is a person and must be compensated for a taking. First, a corporation is not a person. Second, the city does not own the water system. Third, a transfer of assets from one government entity to another does not obligate either to any financial reconciliation.

Interview with Attorney Frayda Bluestein, School of Government
WCQS
Asheville water lawsuit.

http://timpeck.blogspot.com/2013/05/water-merger-documents.html#ixzz2VXcMACiO

Ownership is difficult to untangle. But the one thing that is clear is that it's not owned by Asheville. See this report for a breakdown of ownership:

http://www.ncleg.net/documentsites/committees/MetSewWatSysLRC/Report/2012-LRC%20Municipal%20Sewerage%20FINAL%20REPORT.pdf

The water merger is law but is now subject to a temporary restraining order brought by the city. The defendant, the State of North Carolina, asked for the TRO to be extended another 60 days, which was granted by the judge. That is so that the bond transfer matter can be resolved before the case is heard in court. That will blow a big hole right through this lawsuit. The last nail is to ******REDACTED*******. That will completely dispose of the lawsuit to the city's disfavor.

The lawsuit claims that Asheville, the corporation, is a person. And I thought they were against that sort of thing.

Eliminate Corporate Personhood
By Gordon Smith
January 26, 2012

"A resolution calling for a Constitutional Amendment to invalidate the 2010 Supreme Court’s Citizen United decision will be on the February 14th agenda of Asheville City Council"

http://scrutinyhooligans.us/2012/01/26/eliminate-corporate-personhood/

Resolution No. 12-37 - Resolution to Eliminate Corporate Personhood
Asheville City Council
Page 16

"Councilman Smith said that the groups Move to Amend and Asheville Growing Business Alliance asked him to move forward the resolution to eliminate corporate personhood...Councilman Bothwell moved for the adoption of Resolution No. 12-37 to eliminate corporate personhood. This motion was seconded by Councilman Pelly and carried unanimously."

http://www.ashevillenc.gov/Portals/0/city-documents/cityclerk/mayor_and_citycouncil/minutes/mmtwelve/m120214.pdf

Asheville Water System Lawsuit Press Conference

Asheville City Council Press Conference on Water System Lawsuit
Council Chamber, City Hall
May 10, 2013, 11:30am

TERRY BELLAMY: Good morning, everyone. Thank you all so very much for coming out. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Thank you all so very much for coming out. Instead of having people sit down, I'm going to ask literally if my council, former mayors, former council members would come, and state legislators would come and stand with me as we start this out. [SPEAKERS ASSEMBLE BEHIND PODIUM] [APPLAUSE] Good morning, everyone. It's a pleasure to bring you all to city council this morning under unfortunate circumstances. It's great to see so many leaders here who have influenced the direction of our community. It's because of the leadership that you have behind me that the City of Asheville has seen unprecedented growth and that we've been able to weather the recession and the many storms our city has faced. I'm really proud that over the years that our representatives here behind me, we can say that the City of Asheville is a beautiful place not only to live and work but also to visit. It's because of the collective policies that were approved by the individual who are standing behind me, we have seen Asheville become one of the best places to live. And farmers have said that we are one of the best places to do business. But more importantly, we have one of the lowest unemployment rates in the state. We've added more jobs from January 2012 to January 2013 percentage-wise than any other city in North Carolina. [APPLAUSE] Yeah, you can clap about that. Because of this group behind us we have unprecedented partnerships we have created as a community. When we think about the vibrancy of Asheville and what makes us a unique community, it's because of the people behind me during the time that they've served, they've worked and they've built bridges, whether it's through the Land of Sky Regional Council, whether it's working with Pack Place, whether it's working with Buncombe County Commissioners, our leaders have committed to working with individuals to make this community better. And they've not only thought about the City of Asheville and the citizens of Asheville, they've thought about the citizens of Buncombe County and the millions of citizens from across this country and the globe who come to Asheville to visit our community. So, today it's troubling when we think about House Bill 488. It forces the loss of the city's water system. Forcing the transfer of Asheville's assets is harmful to our statewide efforts to encourage economic development and business growth. Stability and predictability in terms of municipal assets and agreements are extremely important in terms of how Asheville and North Carolina are viewed as a place to do business. Based upon the opinion of the state treasurer, those factors could impact the bond ratings in North Carolina which may increase the taxpayers cost to borrow funds for critical capital infrastructures. The uncertainties created by this move could also undermine the ability of other cities and towns to issue bonds because they would have to be disclosed to potential lenders in the future, impacting desirability in the bond market. Over the last few months, you've heard this council and myself talk about the issues impacting House Bill 488 impacting our city. I'm not going spend time talking to you about how bad this bill is. Today, I'm going to tell you that we are proud that we put the legal team together of Moore and Van Allen and Long, Park, Warren, Anderson and Payne and our city attorney Bob Oast to help us defend our water system. [APPLAUSE] I'm proud to let you know that we will file a complaint in Wake County Superior Court early next week to help us keep our water system. I'm really proud of the fact that Senator Martin Nesbitt is here standing with us and he's going to speak right now.

Water Merger Documents

CITY OF ASHEVILLE v. STATE of North Carolina, Buncombe County. August 19, 2008

Legislative Research Committee on Metropolitan Sewerage/Water System

Tim Moffitt: Our Report to the North Carolina General Assembly

Representative Ramsey speaks on HB488
Representative McGrady speaks on HB488

Resolution Supporting Asheville's Retention of Its Water System
Asheville Resolution Against Water Merger

MSD Planning Committee 11-14-12
MSD Planning Committee 11-30-12
MSD Board Meeting, 11/14/12
MSD Board Meeting, 12/12/12

MSD compensation offer to the city.
Compensation offers 1 thru 11: Back to the Future

History of the Asheville Buncombe Water System by Davyne Dial

REFERENDUM

N.C.G.S. § 160A‑321
Sale, lease, or discontinuance of city‑owned enterprise.

(a) A city is authorized to sell or lease as lessor any enterprise that it may own upon any terms and conditions that the council may deem best. However, except as to transfers to another governmental entity pursuant to G.S. 160A‑274 or as provided in subsection (b) of this section, a city‑owned enterprise shall not be sold, leased to another, or discontinued unless the proposal to sell, lease, or discontinue is first submitted to a vote of the people and approved by a majority of those who vote thereon. Voter approval shall not be required for the sale, lease, or discontinuance of airports, off‑street parking systems and facilities, or solid waste collection and disposal systems.

(b) For the sale, lease, or discontinuance of water treatment systems, water distribution systems, or wastewater collection and treatment systems, a city may, but is not required to, submit to its voters the question of whether such sale, lease, or discontinuance shall be undertaken. The referendum is to be conducted pursuant to the general and local laws applicable to special elections in such city.

Bob Oast: Closed session on referendum
"The outcome of the vote on the sale or lease of the water system would only affect the City’s ability to sell or lease the system. It would not affect the City’s ability to seek compensation if the transfer occurs in other ways."

Bob Oast: To city council on referendum
Oast: "The language of the statute limits the voters eligible to participate in such a referendum to City voters. The results of the referendum would be binding such that, if the vote was 'no,'' the system could not be sold or leased."

Bob Oast on sale or lease
Mayor Bellamy asked if we hold a referendum and the citizens say they don’t want the City to sell or lease the water system but the State makes us give it away, do we negate the opportunity to be compensated. She didn’t want to do anything to stop Asheville from being compensated. City Attorney Oast said that the use of sale or lease in the statute contemplates a voluntary transaction. The statute does not address a situation where the City was forced to transfer its assets involuntarily.

LAWSUIT

Pete Kaliner on Water Lawsuit [audio]

Transcript: Asheville Water System Lawsuit Press Conference, verbatim

Water Merger Lawsuit: Temporary Restraining Order
Water Merger Lawsuit: Complaint Filed
Water Merger Lawsuit: Affidavit (Shoaf)

WCQS Interview: Attorney Frayda Bluestein, School of Government, on Asheville water lawsuit.

Food Policy

Step One: Seek city government sanction (where the markets are). Innocuous, no funding.

"With [City of Asheville] approval of this resolution, the management process to evaluate, prioritize, and implement sustainability activities will be expanded to include food activities."

http://www.ashevillenc.gov/Portals/0/city-documents/cityclerk/mayor_and_citycouncil/current%20agenda/Unfinished-B%20-%20Food%20Action%20Plan.pdf

Step Two: Seek county government sanction (where the farms are). Innocuous, no funding.

"Food Policy Councils (FPC) are comprised of stakeholders from various segments of a local food system. Councils are typically sanctioned through government action such as an Executive Order, Public Act, or Joint Resolution".

http://www.statefoodpolicy.org/?pageID=qanda#WhatIsAFoodPolicyCouncil

Step Three: Form a nonprofit and solicit public funding.

"There is slightly more interest in establishing a more formal legal structure (such as 501(c)3 status) to pursue funding or growth opportunities".

http://www.abfoodpolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/AB-FPC_report_11-15-12.pdf

Step Four: Seek public/private partnership, become an arm of local government in an official capacity to guide policy, craft regulations, funnel public money to a network of nonprofit cronies and enable ideological favoritism.

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RELATED

Nourishing policy: City Council considers Asheville's Food Action Plan
Asheville City Council is thinking about your stomach — and stomachs all over Asheville, in fact.

LTE: Water Merger

Two takes from readers on city-state relations
Tim Peck | Asheville Citizen-Times | 1/13/2013

House Bill 552, sponsored by Representative Tim Moffitt and signed into law by Governor Perdue on June 28, 2012, directed the City of Asheville to turn over title to certain WNC Ag Center properties. To this date, the city has not complied with this directive and instead contemplates action that would control the conduct of gun shows on those same properties.

In April of 2012, the General Assembly's Legislative Research Committee directed the City of Asheville to effect a merger of their water department with the county's sewerage system into a reorganized, locally-operated regional water authority that would continue the mission of serving water and sewer customers on a wider scale with greater efficiencies and fairer representation. Instead, they have held an irrelevant and insular referendum, passed antagonistic resolutions, voted down reasonable proposals by MSD, conducted propaganda forums and coordinated oppositional activism, all aimed at thwarting the good faith process called for by the committee.

As with the Ag Center, the city has shown every sign of repeating a pattern of stubborn recalcitrance with the water merger and I urge the General Assembly to take full control of this matter and expedite the merger without compensation at its earliest availability.

TIM PECK
ASHEVILLE

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RELATED

GREATER ASHEVILLE REGIONAL AIRPORT AUTHORITY ACT.
"SECTION 2.2.(a) The City of Asheville shall convey to the State of North Carolina by warranty or quitclaim deed all its right, title, and interest to the 'City of Asheville Parcel' below, which is part of the Western North Carolina Agricultural Center, and the corporate limits of the City of Asheville are reduced by removing all three parcels below from the corporate limits.."

Asheville Objectivists

Talk of the Town

Talk of the town: The 2012 stories that got the most online comments
By Jake Frankel | Mountain Xpress | 12/30/2012

Tim Peck’s letter to the editor advocating free-market capitalism garnered more responses than any other post on the Xpress website over the past year. The local blogger and former Asheville City Council candidate also posted far more comments on the site than any other registered user.

In keeping with Mountain Xpress’ long-standing goal of promoting community dialogue, our website proved to be fertile ground for a wide variety of lively discussions over the past year. Here's a look at the posts that generated the most online comments (note: Xpress' tracking system doesn't include comments made via Facebook).

A letter to the editor by Tim Peck titled "People and Profits Are In Harmony" drew more responses than any other post. In the piece, the local blogger and former Asheville City Council candidate argued that, "In commercial transactions, two parties profit: the seller and the buyer.

"The buyer acquires a product and the seller gains financially," he continued. "This peaceable, voluntary transaction of value for value to mutual benefit is an exercise of the rights of individuals to life, liberty, property and the pursuit of happiness. It is the proper and moral exercise of economic and political freedom."

Most commenters disagreed, however, saying that sometimes, corporations’ pursuit of profit can lead to negative economic and environmental consequences for consumers.

"Your letter assumes a true free market, where transparency allows the consumer to know how workers are treated, how products are made, how pricing structures and other legal policies are created and so on," wrote commenter "sonipitts" (Xpress policy allows aliases and anonymous online comments).

"However, in our current world we don't have a free market," sonipitts continued. "We have a market dominated by a few large corporations in each field operating with the wealth of small nations and using that wealth to silence whistle-blowers who would expose dangerous or unethical practices; who use their money and subsequent influence to get laws passed specifically aimed at preventing information about such practices from being exposed (or to simply make them legal); who use that same influence to make competition impossible beyond a few small 'industry leaders' and to avoid any but the most trivial consequences for breaking the law."

The top posters of 2012 (User name/ Number of comments posted):

timothypeck 1,825
Ken Hanke 1,446
bsummers 535
Dionysis 437
Xanadon't 364
Jeremy Dylan 335
bill smith 240
Me 233
Orbit DVD 198
D. Dial 175
mat catastrophe 141
Edwin Arnaudin 130

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RELATED

Pete Kaliner Radio Show
1/2/2013, Hour 2
Jake Frankel from Mountain Xpress joins us to talk the big stories of 2012 and the upcoming issues for 2013. (Talk of the town @ 00:08:00)