Win the courts, win the war 51 — percent of North Carolina voters who cast a ballot for a Democratic U.S. House candidate in 2012 31 — percent of U.S. House seats that went to Democrats in 2012 Open season on individual rights 17 — days allowed for ...
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Altered State
The November elections of 2010 brought about a major upheaval in North Carolina’s political leadership, with the General Assembly switching to Republican control for the first time in more than a century. The 2012 gubernatorial election only served to reinforce this transformation. In the following special report, “Altered State: How Five years of conservative rule have redefined North Carolina,” the staff at N.C. Policy Watch takes an in-depth look at a number of the key policy changes that have resulted and the real world impact those changes have produced.
Voices from an Altered State
Those in the know speak on what's happened in the last five years
In “Altered State: How Five years of conservative rule have redefined North Carolina” the staff at N.C. Policy Watch takes an in-depth look at a number of the key policy changes that have taken place since the November elections of 2010. Policymakers, educators, environmentalists and advocates all had ...
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Amid the gloom, rays of hope
The Right remains firmly in control, but important cracks are emerging
At the conclusion of the whirlwind 2011 session of the North Carolina General Assembly — a session in which new conservative majorities pushed through a raft of dramatic policy changes —many progressive North Carolinians surveyed the aftermath and found themselves actually breathing a sigh of relief. There was ...
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Open season on individual rights
Conservatives seek voting restrictions, keep fighting on old social issues
The party of less government rolled into Raleigh after the 2010 elections champing at the bit, eager to fulfill an agenda long delayed. “Regulations kill jobs” became the rallying cry, but as it turned out, that cry only went so far. When it came to voting booths, bedrooms, ...
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Win the courts, win the war
How the state Supreme Court advanced the conservative agenda
Conservative justices hold a 4-3 majority on the ostensibly nonpartisan state Supreme Court and, as party operatives understand well, maintaining that edge has been critical to ensuring Republican control elsewhere throughout the state. “Lose the courts, lose the war.” Political consultant John Davis labeled this “Rule Number Five” ...
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Monday numbers from an Altered State, Part 2
A by-the-numbers look at North Carolina under conservative control
Starving the schools 250 — decline, in dollars, in per-student K–12 funding in North Carolina for fiscal year 2015 from 2014 (“Most states still funding schools less than before the recession,” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Oct. 16, 2014) 14.5 — percentage reduction in per-pupil spending in ...
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UNC system at risk
Budget cuts take a toll, and wariness grows of political interference
The tumultuous political changes that have swept over North Carolina this decade have not spared the state’s public universities. The 17-campus UNC system stands out nationally, especially in the South, for its quality, affordability and independence. It boasts the nation’s first public university; the prestigious N.C. School of ...
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Paving the way toward privatization
Legislators embrace vouchers, charter school expansion, disregard calls for accountability
Since taking charge in Raleigh, conservative lawmakers have been steering public dollars into a range of alternatives to traditional public schools that march under the banner of “school choice.” Beginning as a trickle, but with the potential to become a flood, spending is growing for vouchers to pay ...
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Losing its luster
Low pay, lack of respect prompt teachers to rethink their chosen profession
By any measure, Asheville Middle School’s Chris Gable was a teaching star. Gable outperformed all of his colleagues as measured by his students’ test scores, and he had a gift for engaging his students. He coached young writers and was always finding innovative ways to make language arts ...
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Starving the schools
Teacher assistants, textbooks, services slashed as per-pupil spending plummets
Barbara Dell Carter is not a social worker. Nor is she a nurse, psychotherapist, nutritionist or a special needs educator. Carter is a second grade teacher. But in today’s classrooms in North Carolina, she’s expected to take on much more than planning lessons and teaching her students. “And ...
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Monday numbers from an Altered State, Part 1
A by-the-numbers look at North Carolina under conservative control
The wrecking crew 228 — weekly average in dollars of unemployment benefit in North Carolina (All for naught? Today’s harmful policies are setting up the unemployment insurance system to repeat past mistakes, fail to stabilize the economy,” N.C. Budget & Tax Center, May 2015) 47 — rank of ...
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Paradise for polluters
Pro-business agenda trumps environmental concerns
Conservatives rolled out the welcome mat for business when they took control of state government, making clear that unleashing companies from regulatory burdens ranked at the top of their agenda. “The reason I’m running for governor is to represent business,” then Charlotte mayor and longtime Duke Energy employee ...
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Yanking away the ladder
Legislature blocks and cuts programs that help people climb out of poverty
David Turner’s spine and back issues cause him nearly constant pain and distress, keeping him inside his house most days and unable to meet with clients for his web design business or care for his two children. A medical test would clear Turner for steroid shots to lessen ...
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Public investment falls, tax responsibility shifts
Low- and middle-income taxpayers bear more of the load
Public investments are essential building blocks of long-term economic growth and shared prosperity. Decades ago, North Carolina diverged from its Southern neighbors by investing in good roads, quality public schools and universities and early childhood programs. Since the official recovery began in 2009 — when rebuilding from the ...
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The wrecking crew
Government shrinks, the safety net is shredded and benefits flow to the wealthy
In October 2011, just a few months after the end of the first General Assembly session controlled by Republicans in more than a hundred years, House Speaker Thom Tillis told a small group of GOP faithful in Mars Hill that one of his goals was to “divide and ...
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