Greetings from Raleigh!
Legislators are returning to Raleigh after the holiday season break and gearing up for a new session in the General Assembly.
Seating assignments have been made, and legislators have submitted their requests for preferred committees. The GA works on a two-year cycle, and 2011 is slated for a long session when the House and Senate hammer out a new budget.
Tax Reform
On everyone’s mind, of course, is the budget deficit of an expected $3.7 billion. We cut over $1 billion from programs last year and met the balance of the reduced budget through the infusion of $1.7 billion in federal stimulus money and a temporary sales tax increase that raised nearly $1 billion.
The sales tax increase is set to expire in June and it is unlikely that it will be extended. Based on current projections, state revenue for the next two years is approximately $3.7 billion less than current funding levels. Without an extension of the sales tax increase, the General Assembly will have to find and additional $3.7 billion in budget cuts.
The evidence is simply overwhelming that our current system of taxation is antiquated. The current system is based on an economy dominated by manufacturing. Over the past three decades, our economy has transitioned to one that is increasingly driven by services. I believe it is time to overhaul our current outdated system to recognize current economic realities. State Treasurer Janet Cowell has reached the same conclusion and recently joined the call to reform our tax system. If you didn’t get a copy of my last newsletter outlining my views on tax reform, please email me at bergerdla@ncleg.net and I’ll send it to you.
Charter Schools
Another hot-button issue for the upcoming session, which starts Jan. 26, will be whether to lift the cap on charter schools in North Carolina. The state presently allows 100 charter schools to operate. The new Republican majority in Raleigh supports lifting the cap, citing the need for more competition in the public education arena. Opponents of lifting the cap are against the idea because they say charter schools take away money from regular public schools without requiring adequate levels of accountability and oversight.
Around the country, charter schools have enjoyed bi-partisan support. President Clinton, President Bush and President Obama have all advocated for the expansion of charter schools. Unfortunately, in North Carolina support has become a partisan issue. The law allowing for charter schools, but placing a cap on them was passed when Republicans controlled the North Carolina House and Democrats controlled the Senate in the mid-1990s. I have been criticized because of my support for the charter school option by fellow Democrats who see such support as undermining the traditional public school system.
I have supported lifting the cap on charter schools. In 2007 I was the primary sponsor of Senate Bill 590, which would have increased the cap to 125 charter schools. When a majority could not be obtained for that level, I co-sponsored Senate Bill 1227 in 2009 to authorize the cap to be lifted to 106. Here are links to the bills: Senate Bill 590 and Senate Bill 1227
I support the charter school option because I believe charter schools can be incubators for new ideas in educating our children. These ideas can be attempted without interference from traditional statutory and bureaucratic rules. Charter schools can provide parents of children who are struggling in the traditional public schools with another option for their children.
These children are typically, but not always, from poorer families that can’t afford to send their children to private schools. The charter school option also creates competition with the traditional public school system that I believe can be positive for the same reason that I believe competition is a positive attribute of our economic system. Business competition leads to the delivery of better quality services in order to attract customers. Such competition, if done fairly, can and should create pressure on traditional public school systems to deliver better services in competing for parents to choose to utilize the traditional public school system.
Charter schools are “public schools.” To be called “public,” charter schools must be accessible to the public. That means that kids who need free or reduced lunches or who need transportation to school—two indicators of poverty—should not be left out. If we allow public tax dollars to be diverted to the charters, all students should be served. Currently, only 35 percent of the state’s charter schools provide a free and reduced lunch program and 36 percent offer some type of transportation to their students.
Last year, I joined Senate Republicans and voted against a bill that was aimed at reforming low-performing schools in North Carolina. http://www.ncstatesenate.com/2010/05/democrats-fail-to-stand-up-for-school-choice/
I opposed the bill because it did not include an option to raise the charter school cap. I had an agreement with the Republicans that they would vote for the bill if the Democrats would agree to lift the cap to include an additional six charter schools. As part of that agreement, the Republicans said they would support a requirement that the new schools provide free and reduced lunches and that the new schools enroll a percentage of students in each new school that would qualify for the free and reduced lunch program. Now that the Republicans can lift the cap on charter schools without a single Democratic vote, it remains to be seen as to whether they will support the conditions we had previously negotiated.
Kids in poverty need a good education, the same as any other child. A joint legislative commission (that included members of both parties and the public) last year studied the causes of poverty in North Carolina, and one finding was that charter schools, “if inclusive of low-income students, can be a force to lift children from the cycle of poverty.” The commission recommended the General Assembly lift the existing cap, but with a specified minimum of students in the schools eligible for free and reduced-price lunches. Read the entire report by clicking on the link below:
Study Commission on Poverty Reduction in North Carolina
With Republican majorities in both houses of the General Assembly lifting the cap is a certainty, so, the only question is, how will we go about it? Will we make school choice possible only for the few who can afford to have a parent drop them off and pick them up at school or provide them with a nutritious lunch (charter schools now aren’t required to offer any lunch program to its students), or will we make it a viable option for every child, regardless of economic status?
District 7 Forum
Tax reform and charter schools will be the main topics of discussion at a public forum to be held 10 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 19, at the Vance-Granville Community College Civic Center. Lunch will be provided. The event is sponsored by me, Rep.-elect Glen Bradley and Rep. Michael Wray. If you would like to attend, please contact bergerdla@ncleg.net.
Richard Vinroot
As Charlotte’s Mayor from 1991 to 1995, Richard Vinrootwas champion of privatization and limiting the growth of government. During his tenure, taxes were never raised and he was voted 1995 Municipal Leader of the Year by American City and County magazine. He was a Morehead Scholar and graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with business and law degrees. He is a senior partner and trial lawyer with Robinson, Bradshaw & Hinson. In 2000, he was the Republican nominee for governor.
Darrell Allison
Darrell Allison led a successful grassroots lobbying effort in U.S. House of Representatives culminating in the passage of HR 7 “Community Solutions Act.” He is the founding president of Parents for Educational Freedom in North Carolina, the state’s leading parental school choice organization. He has helped to grow its membership base to tens-of-thousands. He is a former White House intern and a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law. He graduated magna cum laude from North Carolina Central University.
Bryan Hassel
Bryan Hassel is co-director of Public Impact. He consults nationally with leading public agencies, nonprofit organizations and foundations working for dramatic improvements in K-12 education. He is a recognized expert on charter schools, school turnarounds, education entrepreneurship, and human capital in education. His work has appeared in Education Next, Education Week and numerous other publications. Dr. Hassel received his doctorate in public policy from Harvard University and his master’s degree in politics from Oxford University, which he attended as a Rhodes Scholar. He earned his B.A. at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which he attended as a Morehead Scholar.
Leanne Winner
Leanne Winner has been the director of governmental relations for the N.C. School Boards Association since 1998. During her time as a lobbyist with NCSBA, she has worked on numerous pieces of legislation on behalf of school boards, school systems and children. She has been ranked several times as one of the 55 most effective lobbyists by the N.C. Center for Public Policy Research. Prior to coming to NCSBA, she was the administrator of the governmental relations practice at the law firm of Everett, Gaskins, Hancock and Stevens. During her time there, she was instrumental in guiding the $1.8 million school bond issue legislation through the General Assembly. She received her master’s degree in economics from the University of Iowa and her bachelor’s degree from Colorado College.
Sen. Daniel Clodfelter
Sen. Daniel Clodfelter has served Mecklenburg County in the General Assembly since 1999. He is the co-chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and a tax reform advocate. In the 1980’s and 1990’s, he served on the Charlotte City Council. He is an attorney with the firm Moore and Vann Allen where he focuses on anti-trust, competition and insolvency cases. He attended law school at Yale University and received his bachelor’s degree from Davidson College. In addition, he was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University.
Roland Stephen
Roland Stephen is the assistant director for research and policy with the Institute for Emerging Issues, where he also serves as editor for the web-based magazine Innovation Online and the coordinator of the Faculty Fellows Program. He has a B.A. from Cambridge University in economics and history and a Ph.D. from UCLA in political science. He works closely with partners and stakeholders both inside and outside the university from across North Carolina and the nation. His applied research seeks to identify the policy responses available for economic developers and state leaders given a rapidly changing and increasingly competitive global economy.
Roy Cordato
Roy Cordato is vice president for research and resident scholar at the John Locke Foundation. From 1993-2000 he served as the Lundy Professor of Business Philosophy at Campbell University in Buies Creek. From 1987-1993 he was senior economist at the Institute for Research on the Economics of Taxation (IRET) in Washington, D.C. He has served as full time economics faculty at the University of Hartford and at Auburn University and as adjunct faculty at Johns Hopkins University. He holds a master’s degree in urban and regional economics from the University of Hartford and a doctorate in economics from George Mason University.
As always I welcome your comments on this newsletter or anything else that concerns you. My office is here to help in whatever manner we can. It is an honor to serve as your Senator and I will do everything in my power to live up to that honor.
Sincerely,
Doug Berger