Budget deficit? Yawn. Let's make money!

First-term N.C. Rep. Glen Bradley apparently doesn't think the General Assembly has enough work to do. Tackling that $2.4 billion budget deficit, and strategizing to save teachers' jobs and protect other essential services must not be weighing on his mind that much. He's got time to focus his energy, and the energies of others on a bill to develop a plan for an alternative state currency.

That's right. The GOP lawmaker warns that the federal dollars in your wallet could soon be little more than green paper backed by broken promises, so North Carolina should have a plan to issue its own legal tender backed by silver and gold. His bill would set up a study committee with 14 members to consider alternative state currency "in the event of a major breakdown of the Federal Reserve System."

Lest you think Bradley is wacko (an N.C. State economics professor called it outlandish) for giving this matter so much time and attention, he joins lawmakers in at least six other states - Virginia, Georgia, Indiana, Montana, New Hampshire and South Carolina - who've introduced or plan to introduce such legislation. And yes, states can actually do this as long as officials don't coin actual money. Local alternative currencies are already used in some U.S. cities, i.e. Berkshires, Mass., has the BerkShare, Ithaca, N.Y., has the Ithaca Hour and here in North Carolina, Pittsboro reportedly has the Plenty. Who knew?

Still, small cities using bartering scrip for small transactions is a whole lot different from whole states setting up alternative state currency systems. That would be a much more complex matter requiring a lot of financial expertise, we'd think. So far, the General Assembly hasn't shown that much expertise in handling the legal tender we use now. We'd prefer they spend more concentrated time on that before they try to figure out an alternative.

Perdue's budget - good and bad, says group

The N.C. Justice Center's Budget and Tax Center weighed in on Gov. Bev Perdue's budget this morning, and gives the governor good marks for "avoiding deep personnel cuts in education and health and human services" (report from the NC Budget & Tax Center finds). But the group pans the budget plan for costing thousands of jobs while backing an ill-advised corporate tax cut.

Calling their assessment "comprehensive and balanced," the group said that “several key recommendations of this budget deserve praise,” particularly the governor’s "appropriate and fiscally sound use of one-time savings to reestablish the Mental Health Trust Fund ($75 million) and replenish the Rainy Day Fund ($150 million)."

The group said the state sales tax "remains a disproportionate burden to low-income North Carolinians, [but] the governor’s decision to extend the current state sales tax at 5.5 percent also provides the boost in revenues needed to sustain key state services and avoid even deeper cuts in education and health and human services.”

The report knocked the Perdue’s corporate tax cut proposal and widespread elimination of jobs.
“Corporate tax cuts are unlikely to spur significant job growth,” said Alexandra Forter Sirota, BTC director and one of the report’s authors.

Perdue’s budget also eliminates up to 5,800 state positions – some vacant and some filled – as well as cuts funding to local governments that could result in the elimination of as many as 4,100 non-teacher positions in North Carolina public schools. That's not good, the group said.

A light look at Mubarak's reversal

We've found video of Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak's most recent speech, in which he says he's staying, but then flees. It's the first 12 seconds of this video:

Don't mess with people's barbecue

Sure, gay marriage or health care reform gets some people stirred up. But if you really want to get tongues wagging, weigh in on barbecue.
When First Lady Michelle Obama cited Charlotte's "great barbecue" in announcing that the Democratic National Convention was headed here, we wondered if she needed to lay off the sweet tea. While there is some good barbecue in Charlotte, we argued that true connoisseurs had to go to Lexington or Shelby or elsewhere to find the finest.
We agree with John Shelton Reed, author of "Holy Smoke: The Big Book of North Carolina Barbecue", who told the Associated Press: "Complete the sentence: As a barbecue town, Charlotte is one, not what it used to be; two, like Minneapolis for gumbo; three, good enough for Yankees; four, not far from Shelby."
Politico also weighed in. Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx, in an interview with the political website, didn't defend the Queen City: "We have good barbecue in Charlotte, but there's great barbecue [elsewhere] across the state," Foxx said. "I have had great barbecue in Charlotte that's been brought in on a truck."
But he said Charlotte will not let down the Obamas.
"If barbecue is what the First Lady wants, she will have all the barbecue she needs," Foxx said. "We'll make sure of it."
USA Today has also written about the flap.
None of this sits well with national Democrats, who are e-mailing us to remind us that Bubba's, off Exit 16 on I-77, was named the third best barbecue in North Carolina. And for some reason, the whole issue really gets in the craw of Jamison Foser, a blogger at Media Matters.
As for us, we reiterate our invitation for some intrepid investors to open a real barbecue joint in the heart of uptown, with nanner puddin' on the menu every day.
-- Posted by the Observer editorial board

Charlotte = great barbecue? Who knew?

Michelle Obama may know a lot about haute coutre in Chicago, but she doesn't know hushpuppies about Charlotte's culinary scene. In announcing Charlotte will host the 2012 Democratic National Convention, the First Lady says:

"Charlotte is a city marked by its southern charm, warm hospitality, and an 'up by the bootstraps' mentality that has propelled the city forward as one of the fastest-growing in the South. Vibrant, diverse, and full of opportunity, the Queen City is home to innovative, hardworking folks with big hearts and open minds. And of course, great barbecue."

Huh?!?! We appreciate all the compliments, and they're all spot-on until that last one. We like Spoon's, Mac's and Bubba's just fine, but everybody knows to get the best stuff, you gotta drive north to Lexington.

Maybe this will be the publicity Lexington BBQ needs to open an outpost in Charlotte. Or how about a consortium of Lexington/Wilber Shirley/B's/Skylight Inn/Allen & Sons at the corner of Trade and Tryon?

-- Posted by the Observer editorial board

CMS Board: We want taxing authority...

This got lost amid the emotion and drama of budget woes at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg board of education meeting Tuesday, but another controversial subject came up: taxing authority. And most CMS board members seemed in favor - with some conditions.

The proposal was on the legislative agenda the school system's lawyer, George Battle, unveiled. It is a working document based on conversations he had with school board members about what they would like N.C. lawmakers to do this session. Most of the items were fuzzes or obvious: adequate education funding and flexibility, "elevating and enhancing teaching through reforms" (this related to Superintendent Peter Gorman's pay for performance ideas), flexibility in tackling needs of low-performing schools.

But there was no ambiguity about taxing authority. The General Assembly would have to grant CMS and any other school district in the state the right to tax citizens. It's come before N.C. lawmakers before. But so far, lawmakers have been in favor of it. It's highly unlikely they will this time, with Republicans in charge.

But school board members say the idea has merit because, as board chair Eric Davis said, it "provides clear accountability." Meaning that the school system can ask the voters directly for funds to support school needs and voters can express their opinion about whether that money was used wisely at election time. Right now, the county commissioners supply local money for schools and tax citizens for those and other needs. And they get to decide what's adequate, not the school board.

Davis and other school board members, including Kaye McGarry, said they'd consider taxing authority if the terms for board members were reduced to two years instead of four. That would give voters a better leash on board members because they could vote members out quicker if they're dissatisfied.

Davis also said he'd consider it only if city and county consolidation occurred. That way citizens would not be getting a third taxing authority. There would still be only two. That's the view of Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx too. He's been at the forefront of a consolidation push.

The school board's legislative agenda is still being shaped. More discussion is to come at the next board meeting.

Gov. Bev "unhappy" with Colbert's Wake spoof

The Wake County schools and the school board's retrenchment on diversity policies got lots of negative news recently for N.C. - so much so that Gov. Bev weighed in Thursday.

First, U.S. education secretary Arne Duncan sent a letter to the Washington Post recently on the matter. He said it was "troubling" to see the board "take steps to reverse a long-standing policy to promote racial diversity in its schools" and he said other school systems should not follow suit. "In an increasingly diverse society like ours, racial isolation is not a positive outcome for children of any color or background," he wrote. "School is where children learn to appreciate, respect and collaborate with people different from themselves. I respectfully urge school boards across America to fully consider the consequences before taking such action. This is no time to go backward."

Then there was the Stephen Colbert spoof of Wake County's changes on his comedy show, "The Colbert Report." That's what got the good guv up in arms. She said she was "unhappy" with the spoof - with good reasons. North Carolina came off looking a tad backwards.

Colbert used his "The Word" segment on Wednesday to skewer Wake school leaders. One hilarious part showed real footage of school board chair John Tedesco taking note of changes that would lead to schools with mostly poor kids. Tedesco: "If we had a school that was, like, 80 percent high-poverty, the public will see the challenges, the need to make it successful...Right now, we have diluted the problem, so we can ignore it."To which Colbert archly responded: "See? Misguided government do-gooders foolishly diluted the problem by addressing it. We need to ignore it, so we'll pay attention to it!"

To view the video, click below:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Word - Disintegration
www.colbertnation.com
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N.C. gets low and middling marks on education

On education issues, North Carolina is getting walloped in national news. Two reports show the state lagging on meeting education needs. Education Week, a national magazine, released its annual "Quality Counts" report recently. And the mag's compilation of education indicators found the Tar Heel state in the middle of the pack of states nationwide, getting a C+ overall. But on the important factors of k-12 achievement and education funding the state dragged the bottom, with a D and D+ respectively. Even Louisiana, which got a C-, does better on school financing.
But there's more bad news for North Carolina. Only 5 percent of North Carolina's students attend schools that are above average in school investment. According to "Quality Counts," North Carolina ranks 49th of the 49 states and the District of Columbia in per pupil investment, and this makes adjustments for cost-of-living differences.
To view the Quality Counts report in its entirety, click here.

In another report released this week, the Center for American Progress, some districts in North Carolina - including Weldon City Schools, Gates County Schools, and Washington County Schools - showed low educational productivity. In Return on Educational Investment: A district-by-district evaluation of U.S. educational productivity, Ulrich Boser compares the academic achievement of a school district with its educational spending, while controlling for factors like cost of living and students in poverty. The report makes several recommendations including encouraging smarter and fairer approaches to school funding by developing policies that direct money to students based on their needs, so that all schools have an equal opportunity to succeed.
For more on this evaluation of over 9,000 districts in over 45 states, go www.americanprogress.org/ROI.

Report: Don't try nonviolent teens as adults

North Carolina and New York are the only states that automatically prosecute 16- and 17-year-olds as adults, a report from the N.C. legislature's Youth Accountability Task Force said last week. But the bipartisan task force, that has been meeting for two years, wants to change that. It is recommending that North Carolina raise the age at which it prosecutes teens as adults to 18.

The change would affect 16- and 17-year-olds who are charged with misdemeanors and low-level nonviolent felonies, such as drug possession. That amounts to about 30,000 teens each year.
The cost of the change would be about $50 million a year, according to the task force, which includes law enforcement officers, judges, elected officials and other experts. The costs would come from higher law-enforcement, court, and detention costs, the report said.
But the group found there would be long-term recurring savings to offset those costs. Studies show that children in the juvenile system are less likely to return to jail. Also, juveniles sent to juvenile facilities rather than adult facilities wind up being able to get better jobs and better taxpaying citizens. At the same time, the juvenile system is actually tougher on young offenders - making them pay restitution to victims and keeping tabs on their progress in a way the adult system cannot.

What do you think? Should juveniles charged with misdemeanors and low-level nonviolent felonies be tried as adults or in juvenile court?