Justice Stevens on Racial Justice
For those Supreme Court watchers, Justice Stevens is always an enjoyable character. But since his recent resignation from the Court, Justice Stevens has been much more vocal about his time on Court than any other former justice in recent history. However, it was still very surprising to read his recent comments about the constitutionality of …
NC Says “Tax me!”
A new Elon University Poll suggests that a significant majority of North Carolinians support raising revenue to close the state’s $3 billion budget gap. More than six in 10 North Carolinians support an increase in the sales tax by 1 cent per dollar spent, according to the poll. And more than half – 56 percent …
Wake School Board on the Rocks
Yet another ridiculous evening at the Wake County School Board. Frankly, it does not matter if you agree or disagree with the old diversity policy or not, no one can by happy with what the Board has become. More to come as we review our notes from tonight’s meeting.
Suspension Summit Success
What a great event! Over 150 policymakers, parents and teachers attended our summit. We have folks from all over the state, and presenters from all over the country! The summit was presented by the North Carolina Partnership for Educational Opportunity, a coalition of organizations. NCSJP is a founding member. Check out the NCEPO website for …
DREAMs Deferred
Recently, I was speaking with a friend who works in DC for an advocacy group active on immigration issues, and I asked him what he thought about the odds for the DREAM act to be passed in the current lame duck session of Congress. (For those of you who are not familiar with the Act, it is a bill that would allow some undocumented young people to gain legal status by attending college or serving in the military.)
More of Nothing
If you didn’t make it to last night’s Wake County School Board meeting, don’t worry – you didn’t miss much. It is now crystal clear how dysfunctional the Board has become, and how the intra-board relationships have really deteriorated since Debra Goldman abandoned the proposed neighborhood-based assignment plan last month. There is a stunning lack …
Missing the Point
While watching the election coverage last night (stiff drink firmly in hand), I was struck by the speeches coming from the winning conservatives for the NC State Assembly. Over and over again, they talked about “reigning in wasteful spending” and how the voters “are tired of big government”. Perhaps we can excuse some of this …
Labels for Everyone
In these final days of the mid-term elections, while we all wait for the incessant robocalls and ads to finally stop, we would like to call for just a moment of calm. Certainly, the adversarial nature of political campaigns brings out some nasty words, but it is so interesting what words are “code” for the …