Archive for the 'Education' Category

Glazier forms campaign committee; Cotham is running if Atkinson doesn’t

December 21st, 2011, 6:31 pm by Barry Smith

State Rep. Tricia Cotham still plans to run for state superintendent of public instruction if the incumbent, June Atkinson, doesn’t run. Until then, the Mecklenburg County Democrat is backing Atkinson.

Cotham sent a message out to fellow Democrats asking for unity behind Atkinson in response to a report that fellow state Rep. Rick Glazier, D-Cumberland, has formed a campaign committee to run for the statewide post.

Glazier is a former school board member in Cumberland County. Cotham is an assistant principal in Mecklenburg County.

“I want you to know I will run for superintendent if June Atkinson decides not to run,” Cotham writes. “But, until then, she has my complete support.”

Posted in: 2012 Election • Education • General Assembly • Politics • State government | Post a Comment »

Another Democrat considering bid for state superintendent

November 21st, 2011, 6:02 pm by Barry Smith

Another Democrat is considering a run for the state superintendent of public instruction post next year should the current occupant decide not to seek another term.

State Rep. Tricia Cotham, D-Mecklenburg, said she’d run if current Superintendent June Atkinson decides not to run, reports the Winston-Salem Journal.

Atkinson, a two-term Democrat, has not said if she’ll run again.

Cotham, an assistant high school principal (on leave) and a former social studies teacher, is in her third term in the state House.

Fellow Democratic state Rep. Rick Glazier, D-Cumberland, has also said he’s interested in running of Atkinson doesn’t run again.

The 2012 superintendent’s race has also drawn interest from Republicans. Potential GOP candidates include John Tedesco, a member of the Wake County Board of Education, Cary teacher Ray Martin and Monroe city council candidate Richard Alexander.

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Candidates lining up for state superintendent’s post

November 17th, 2011, 6:15 pm by Barry Smith

The race for superintendent of public instruction is drawing interest from both Democrats and Republicans. The field is actually beginning to get a bit crowded.

The two-term incumbent, Democrat June Atkinson, hasn’t said if she plans to run for re-election.

WRAL.com’s Laura Leslie reports that John Tedesco, a Republican and a member of the Wake County Board of Education, won’t rule out a run for the post. He said that there are a number of opportunities he is considering and would evaluate the possibility further at the beginning of 2012.

WRAL.com reports that two other Republicans have already announced their intention to seek the post. They are Cary teacher Ray Martin and Monroe city council candidate Richard Alexander.

The Fayetteville Observer reports that state Rep. Rick Glazier, D-Cumberland, may consider a bid for the post if Atkinson chooses not to run again. Glazier has been in the N.C. House since 2003. Before going to the House, Glazier was a member of the Cumberland County Board of Education.

The redistricting plan approved by the General Assembly, which has cleared the U.S. Justice Department, double-bunked Glazier with fellow Cumberland County Democratic Rep. Diane Parfitt.

North Carolina will elect its state superintendent during the November 2012 general election.

Posted in: 2012 Election • Education • General Assembly • Politics • Redistricting • State government | 2 Comments »

Gov. Bev Perdue writes legislative leaders, asking for Pre-K approval

October 10th, 2011, 5:13 pm by Barry Smith

Gov. Bev Perdue

Gov. Bev Perdue has made her next move in the ongoing dispute over the state’s pre-kindergarten program. She has sent a letter to legislative leaders asking for approval for money to pay for 6,300 additional children to enroll in the Pre-K program. Her estimates suggest it will cost $30 million to implement an order issued by Wake County Superior Court Judge Howard Manning.

Manning issued his order earlier in the summer, which would require the state to serve all eligible at-risk 4-year-olds in the Pre-K program.

However, legislative leaders have sent notice of intent to appeal Manning’s order, arguing that neither the N.C. Constitution nor a previous N.C. Supreme Court order require the state to provide pre-kindergarten services.

Perdue acknowledges that appeal in her letter. However, she argues that the General Assembly should redirect the $30 needed to implement the program regardless of the outcome of that appeal.

Posted in: Bev Perdue • Education • General Assembly • Politics • State government | Post a Comment »

Speaker Tillis responds to Democrats ‘NC Forward’ tour

September 26th, 2011, 5:18 pm by Barry Smith

House Speaker Thom Tillis has responded to last week’s Democratic leaders’ tour of North Carolina in which they were critical of Republicans for allowing a sales tax increase they imposed two years earlier to expire while cutting state programs at the same time.

Tillis, a Mecklenburg County Republican, said that the Democrats were begging to raise taxes.

House Democratic Leader Joe Hackney of Orange County along with a number of other House Democrats – including fellow Orange County Rep. Bill Faison – traveled the state last week lamenting the effect of budget cuts adopted during the 2011 session of the General Assembly.

Click here to read a Charlotte Observer story on the tour, which they dubbed the NC Forward tour.

“With a stagnant economy and an approach that’s never worked before, you have to admire the audacity of the Hackney/Faison bus tour to bet our state’s taxpayers for more of their hard-earned money – while our taxpayers are hurting the most,” Tillis said.

Tillis said that raising sales taxes would turn “a blind eye to the taxpayers,” adding that it would also hurt businesses trying to balance their budgets.

“Fortunately for North Carolinians, their failed approach of higher and higher taxes, for more and more government spending, doesn’t reflect the overwhelming, bipartisan majority of the House that passed a budget restoring over a billion dollars to N.C. taxpayers,” Tillis said.

Posted in: Budget • Education • General Assembly • Politics • State government | Post a Comment »

Perdue responds to GOP pre-K request

August 16th, 2011, 1:58 pm by Barry Smith

Gov. Bev Perdue’s office has responded to a request by Republican legislative leaders for Wake County Superior Court Judge Howard Manning to clarify a recent order.

The order had to do with the state’s pre-kindergarten program previously known as More at Four.

Said Chris Mackey, Perdue’s press secretary:

“The Republican leadership in the legislature is trying to slam the door in the faces of 4-year-olds who are eligible for this program. The Republicans slashed the budget for pre-kindergarten by 20 percent. They imposed a new tax on financially stressed families who want to enroll. They limited the number of slots available to at-risk children. They took steps to reduce the academic content; and, now that a judge clearly ruled their efforts as unconstitutional, the Republican leaders are pretending this isn’t what they were trying to do. The truth is they are trying to defund academic pre-kindergarten, put up barriers to it and reduce the academic content.”

Posted in: Bev Perdue • Budget • Education • General Assembly • Government spending • Politics • State government | Post a Comment »

Changing the rules in the middle of the session

July 26th, 2011, 6:51 pm by Barry Smith

The General Assembly plans to add constitutional amendments to the list of items that can be considered during their current session.

The session was established primarily to draw new congressional and legislative districts. In addition, lawmakers added a handful of other items that could be taken up during the session, which began on July 13. Those include considering the override of vetoes by Gov. Bev Perdue and election laws.

House Speaker Thom Tillis, R-Mecklenburg, said that three proposed amendments to the N.C. Constitution that had already passed the House could be considered during the current session. Those three are bills limiting top legislative leadership to two terms, establishing protections against eminent domain abuse and reorganizing the State Board of Education.

Tillis said that the resolution would make it possible for other proposed constitutional amendments to come up this week, but not likely. “I don’t see how we can do it,” Tillis said.

Another amendment that has a lot of backing among the GOP majority is a proposal that would establish a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.

Tillis implied that as a practical matter, it would be difficult for a same-sex marriage ban constitutional amendment to come up this week. That’s because some legislators have commitments for later in the week or weekend and wouldn’t be available to vote on the House or Senate floor.

Constitutional amendments require a three-fifths vote of the members of both chambers in order to go to the voters for ratification. That means a proposed constitutional amendment must get 72 of the 120 members of the House and 30 members of the 50 senators.

The legislative GOP leadership has been saying since early June that they planned to return to Raleigh twice this year – once to take care of redistricting and once for a constitutional amendments session.

Tillis said it’s still likely that the General Assembly would return for the fall constitutional amendments session.

Posted in: Bev Perdue • Constitutional Amendments • Education • Elections • General Assembly • Politics • Redistricting • State government • Veto | Post a Comment »

Senate gets to work overriding vetoes

July 13th, 2011, 6:34 pm by Barry Smith

It doesn’t take the state Senate long to override one of Gov. Bev Perdue’s vetoes. In fact, not quite an hour had passed before the Senate convened, took care of some administrative matters, voted to override a Perdue veto not one but six times and gaveled the session to a close on Wednesday.

Senate President Pro-tem Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, during a press conference after the overrides, said that some of Perdue’s vetoes hit at the heart of efforts to create new jobs.

“We’ve heard at times a chorus of, ‘where’s the jobs legislation, where’s the jobs legislation,’” Berger said. “We passed jobs legislation, and the governor vetoes a number of them.”

Berger noted that a number of the votes had bipartisan support. Only one, a bill that would prohibit the state from collecting dues from the NCAE, was strictly along party lines.

The House could take up the bills later this month.

Posted in: Bev Perdue • Economy • Education • Energy • Environment • General Assembly • State government • Veto | 2 Comments »

House sets vote on budget veto override vote for Wednesday

June 13th, 2011, 7:40 pm by Barry Smith

The House has scheduled a vote on overriding Gov. Bev Perdue’s veto of the budget for Wednesday.

That’s the earliest day that a veto can be considered, according to House rules.

House Rule 44.2 requires that a vote on overriding a veto occur no earlier than the second legislative day following notice of its placement on the calendar. That rule applies to a House bill. And this year, the budget originated in the House.

A House veto override for a Senate bill could occur on the next legislative day following the notice.

Those rules apply to the House only, and they would not apply to reconvened sessions if the governor vetoes a bill after the General Assembly has adjourned.

By the way, the Senate has no such requirements. The Senate allows its Rules Committee chairman to decide when and if to vote on a vetoed bill.

Posted in: Budget • Education • General Assembly • Government spending • Politics • State government • Veto | 1 Comment »

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