Archives: 15 February 2012

NBC 17 Story Sidesteps Issue of Declining Public School Personnel

February 15, 2012 at 2:15 pmCategory:Uncategorized

by

A news story that aired on Raleigh’s NBC-17 News last night claimed to offer a “reality check” on how budget cuts affected teaching jobs in North Carolina’s public schools.

Unfortunately, the story left viewers with a mistaken impression that North Carolina’s public schools have weathered recent budget cuts without losing many teaching positions. Although the story is correct to note that 534 teachers were laid off this school year, in addition to 1,260 teacher assistants (based on August 2011 data), layoffs are less relevant than positions lost when looking at the impact of budget cuts on North Carolina’s public schools.

According to the latest data from the NC Department of Public Instruction (NC DPI), North Carolina’s public schools (excluding charters) have 15,497 fewer full-time personnel this year compared to three years ago. Just under one in three of those position losses (4,840) occurred in the last year, and seven in ten of those lost positions since 2009 are the result of fewer teachers (5,134) and teaching assistants (5,738). Read More…

Sh*t Insurance Companies Can’t Say

February 15, 2012 at 12:53 pmCategory:Uncategorized

by

Our friends at Take Action Minnesota made a film featuring sh*t insurance companies won’t be able to say anymore thanks to health reform.

YouTube Preview Image

Demonstrators will watch, protest tomorrow’s special legislative session

February 15, 2012 at 12:07 pmCategory:Uncategorized

by

If you’re one of the large number of North Carolinians who were disgusted by last month’s “midnight madness” session of the General Assembly and who finds him or herself suspicious that tomorrow’s ”special” legislative session might turn into a replay, please consider joining a demonstration that will take place in front of the Legislative Building tomorrow at  11:00 a.m.

Though House Speaker Thom Tillis has reversed himself from previous signals that tomorrow might be used as a vehicle to punish unemployed workers, protesters will be gathering just to make sure and to call attention to the extreme actions of the “Out of Control” General Assembly.

Hope to see you there!

Click here for more information.

Selling off our state and its future

February 15, 2012 at 7:58 amCategory:Uncategorized

by

More details became available yesterday about the ongoing conservative plan to sell off a large number of the public assets that help bind North Carolina together and make middle class life attainable and enjoyable.

As we noted a few weeks back after a previous legislative hearing on the subject of privatizing essential public assets:

“The only problem with this vision, of course, is that it is an absurd fantasy on several levels. As humans have learned through centuries of trial and error Read More…