weren't they going to merge Elizabeth City Sate and Fayetteville State or some other school?

5/29/2014 2:35:37 PM

Quote :

"someone needs to point them to the NC Constitution where it states not that higher education shall be profitable for the state, but that the state should make it as free as is possible"

It doesn't specify "higher" education, it simply states:

Sec. 15. Education.

The people have a right to the privilege of education, and it is the duty of the State to guard and maintain that right.

http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/Legislation/constitution/ncconstitution.html

I don't believe the intent of Sec. 15 was to provide free college to all, but, rather, to provide for a system of k-12. But I don't have time to do the requisite research at the moment to back up that assertion.

5/29/2014 2:56:20 PM

scroll down more

Quote :

"Sec. 8. Higher education. The General Assembly shall maintain a public system of higher education, comprising The University of North Carolina and such other institutions of higher education as the General Assembly may deem wise. The General Assembly shall provide for the selection of trustees of The University of North Carolina and of the other institutions of higher education, in whom shall be vested all the privileges, rights, franchises, and endowments heretofore granted to or conferred upon the trustees of these institutions. The General Assembly may enact laws necessary and expedient for the maintenance and management of The University of North Carolina and the other public institutions of higher education. Sec. 9. Benefits of public institutions of higher education. The General Assembly shall provide that the benefits of The University of North Carolina and other public institutions of higher education, as far as practicable, be extended to the people of the State free of expense."

they are not supposed to make the state money, they are supposed to cost the state money

[Edited on May 29, 2014 at 3:09 PM. Reason : the state]

5/29/2014 3:09:26 PM

Good call. I almost did a ctrl F search before posting bc I did recall language to that ^ extent, but at the new job and prob shouldn't be posting so didn't take the time to read far enough. Obviously still grants a large amount of discretion to the NCGA though for management of the various UNC institutions.

5/29/2014 3:15:04 PM

i don't think you can argue that the "as far as practicable" part means that its supposed to making a profit

5/29/2014 3:17:16 PM

I'm wondering whether the senate proposal for teacher raises will find its way into court, should it be signed into law.

If ripping up contracts via legislation is unconstitutional, is denying promised raises forever if teachers don't rip up their own contracts also a bit sketchy? Non-rhetorical, honest question.


Aside: every move the NC GOP makes on education only makes sense if you first presume that ~75% of teachers are lazy incompetents.



[Edited on May 30, 2014 at 5:20 PM. Reason : ]

5/30/2014 5:14:28 PM

They technically are giving teachers a raise. But they seem to be capping pay at 50k no matter how long a teacher has been teacher, which is pretty crappy.

Kindof sad how they don't care about having quality grade school education, but will bend over backwards to help the energy companies.

5/30/2014 5:21:59 PM

They're only giving out raises to those who choose to do what the NC courts said the GA couldn't do.

5/30/2014 5:42:37 PM

What do you mean by that? I've been seeing a chart going around with teacher salaries by year, that show very modest raises for all teachers, but with a fairly flat progression as teachers work longer (it looks like the pay is designed to push older teachers out of the system).

Are you saying those salaries don't apply unless the teachers/school systems do something else specific?

5/30/2014 5:58:41 PM

Teachers only get the raise if the forfeit tenure.

5/30/2014 6:03:26 PM

Quote :

"They technically are giving teachers a raise. But they seem to be capping pay at 50k no matter how long a teacher has been teacher, which is pretty crappy."

on the old base scale, teacher pay never even reached 50k until year 33. in the senate proposal, pay starts going up beyond 50k at year thirty and keeps going up thereafter.

http://philberger.com/Education-Press-Conference_05-28-2014-Final.pdf

[Edited on May 31, 2014 at 11:15 AM. Reason : ]

5/31/2014 11:12:10 AM

^
It's not significantly more after year 30 and the new pay scale stop raises after 20 years for 10 years. This is a slap in the face to teachers who stick with the work. It's essentially giving te teachers a pay cut for 10 years, then starts with modest pay raises again.

Perhaps they have a good explanation for freezing the raises for 10 years, but that seems designed to encourage the teachers to leave the profession after 20 years.

It's good they are giving the raises at all though, just seems like an odd, antagonistic way of doing it.

[Edited on May 31, 2014 at 5:39 PM. Reason : ]

5/31/2014 5:33:50 PM

there is no teacher who wouldn't be paid higher under the senate plan. yes there are higher raises in the early years, but that's how it is now somewhat already. its just that teachers will get higher salaries earlier in their careers, which if you add it up means more money over their entire career.

6/1/2014 2:35:29 PM

that being said i think it's ridiculous to tie a raise to giving up career status.

6/1/2014 8:06:11 PM

I have a hard time swallowing the need for teacher tenure.

6/2/2014 1:32:37 PM

it's not actually "tenure"
it's "career status" and just gives teachers who are being fired the right to basically appeal the case since they have shown themselves to be effective over their whole career. productivity is much harder to measure for teachers vs other professionals which makes it easier for one inexperienced admin, one year of bad classes, etc to make our teacher evaluations look lower than they should be.

it also gives administrators more leeway on observation schedules, etc. There is a whole list of things teachers could do that could result in termination even with career status, so the myth that it makes bad teachers harder to fire is false. (of course bad teachers have (had) a hard time earning tenure in the first place.)

6/2/2014 1:40:41 PM

That's a sound argument.

6/2/2014 1:53:54 PM

defining the terms of a debate... a politician's worst nightmare.

6/2/2014 1:55:48 PM

COuldn't the "career status" easily be re-enabled by a subsequent administration?

Seems like it would make sense to take the raises now, then fight for the tenure again later.

6/2/2014 3:06:30 PM

that's my hope. i'm in a unique position in that i'm a fairly experienced teacher yet I don't have tenure yet because i switched school systems. (you have to work 4 consecutive years in a school system with good reviews, and this has been my 4th year in wake. had they not outlawed tenure over this past summer I would have earned it this year... and of course this year I had the scrutiny of my "tenure year" without the benefit. (and of course I had the best review of my entire career this year!))

6/2/2014 3:43:50 PM

http://www.wral.com/reforms-would-remove-most-isolated-wetland-protections/13697958/

Come on Republicans. Really?!?

Are you just trying to piss people off?

6/4/2014 12:55:52 PM

Just trying to please those developers!

6/4/2014 1:05:40 PM

^^ what the hell did you people expect them to do?

6/4/2014 1:12:42 PM

I'm getting really disappointed.

6/4/2014 1:16:15 PM

haha, the NCGOP is way too obvious.

Jordan Lake Rules
Fracking
Iso Wetlands

HELLO? McFLY??

6/4/2014 1:20:27 PM

Obvious?

Or oblivious?

6/4/2014 1:21:22 PM

I think he meant obvious, as in obvious about their goals or obvious about who they are serving


it's also exactly what was expected, everything the NC GOP is doing is exactly what everyone said would happen.

6/4/2014 1:45:20 PM

Either or, I can't believe they are doing what they are doing.

6/4/2014 2:19:32 PM

They're just promoting business, businesses are good.

Why do you hate the free market...?

6/4/2014 2:40:23 PM

http://www.wral.com/reforms-would-remove-most-isolated-wetland-protections/13697958/

[Edited on June 4, 2014 at 3:17 PM. Reason : oh, already been posted... by another conservative minded person i see]

6/4/2014 3:17:09 PM

Yea, this one irks me.

6/4/2014 3:39:56 PM

but isolated wetlands are just mud holes standing in the way of job creation!

6/4/2014 3:52:11 PM

Quote :

"Perhaps they have a good explanation for freezing the raises for 10 years, but that seems designed to encourage the teachers to leave the profession after 20 years."

its so they'll leave the profession and won't be paid out their expensive pension plans.

http://www.forum.jamesdhogan.com/2014/06/a-clever-way-to-get-rid-of-teachers.html?m=1

Quote :

"What he's saying is the state retirement pension program is the last golden egg for teachers. Here's why. Say you're a teacher who began your career the year after college at age 22. You taught for thirty-three years in North Carolina and retired at age 55. Based on today's standards, you're set to earn about $28,000 per year in retirement income every year until you die. If you live another thirty-three years and die at age 88, that means you stand to collect $924,000 in retirement income. And the reason Senator Curtis was so ardent in pointing out the pension system to Ms. Wiles is that pensions cost the state a lot of money, and my guess is the fiscal conservatives in Raleigh are interested in doing whatever they can to change that. So if you're a teacher and you're contemplating if it's better to take a pay raise or keep your career status, ask yourself this: do you plan to retire as an educator? The new, proposed senate pay scale is built to soothe middle-career teachers. It is designed to work them through twenty years of service and then quietly encourage them to leave teaching by keeping their salaries flat. And if they don't leave on their own, they have a handy, built-in mechanism to get rid of them--the complete absence of career status. They don't have to fire the teacher who's a couple of years away from retirement. They can simply opt to not re-hire her. "

[Edited on June 4, 2014 at 4:29 PM. Reason : quote]

6/4/2014 4:28:12 PM

are teachers not vested in the pension after 10 years like other state employees?

6/4/2014 4:53:04 PM

Are mountain bogs considered to be isolated wetlands? I know a lot of bogs are not really connected to any water source.

If that is the case, then they are looking at potentially destroying one of the most biodiverse areas in the country.

Poor salamanders

6/5/2014 8:23:10 AM

yes, that would be an example

6/5/2014 8:44:52 AM

"Don't tell me you're pro life"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SksfKAL0GCQ

6/5/2014 9:24:59 AM

^but but but socialism trumps pro-life@

6/5/2014 11:35:14 AM

http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/gov-mccrorys-appointment-charlton-allen-has-a-racially-dubious-past/

6/11/2014 12:21:07 PM

http://www.change.org/petitions/state-rep-thom-tillis-leave-the-north-carolina-film-incentive-alone?

[Edited on June 12, 2014 at 12:18 PM. Reason : ]

6/12/2014 12:17:54 PM

So now they are moving the SBI from the ownership of the attorney general to the Department of Public Safety. These guys have no shame.

6/12/2014 12:30:07 PM

Bill filed to amend NC Constitution to restructure management of public education
http://www.carolinamercury.com/2014/06/bill-filed-to-amend-nc-constitution-to-restructure-management-of-public-education/


amendment to replace an elected position with a governor appointed one. this is dumb.

6/12/2014 2:00:05 PM

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/thom-tillis-traditional-voters-north-carolina-hispanics-african-americans

Quote :

""If you take a look, you mentioned the Hispanic population — the African American population, there's a number of things that our party stands for that they embrace," Tillis said. He went on to say that Republican need to do a better job reaching out to minority voters. Tillis then said that unlike the Hispanic or black populations, which have been growing, the "traditional population of North Carolina and the United States is more or less stable.""

6/17/2014 11:41:11 AM

eh, traditional can mean long-standing. it's a fair statement.

6/17/2014 12:21:13 PM

http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/06/16/3941556/opossum-drop-bill-shows-how-low.html

6/17/2014 12:37:14 PM

its clear from context that traditional means non-minority

which is a poor word choice and demonstrates the GOP's problem with communicating with minorities. it's not particularly offensive, but it is humorous in its irony.

6/17/2014 12:37:23 PM

oh yeah, i agree, he should have chosen his words better

6/17/2014 12:39:38 PM

^^^Woo, rednecks defending their utterly meaningless redneck tradition. They could use a taxidermy animal or sculpture made by a local artist, but no.

6/17/2014 4:21:12 PM

i livestreamed the debate about the possum drop. it did not disappoint.

6/17/2014 4:52:20 PM

^^As if it were that much more ridiculous than Punxsutawney Phil?

6/17/2014 4:54:24 PM