NationBuilder

Welcome to the Friday Five! Every Friday we share our top five articles, stories, and quotes for you to read and share with your friends and church families.

We would be very grateful if you could make a donation of $100, $50, $25, or $10 today towards our work producing these Friday Fives and fighting for your values on the public square!

1. NC VALUES: Chapel Hill is why we need school choice

Chapel Hill Board members openly acknowledged that they were ignoring state law, claiming that they had to be the ones to “protect the children.” The truth is that secret transitioning leads children into a lifetime of mental torture and mutilates their bodies, which is what the new Parents’ Bill of Rights seeks to stop by putting that choice back into the hands of parents.

Chapel Hill reminds us why it is so important to celebrate and advance school choice.

This week we participated in National School Choice Week by celebrating school choice options in our state. For years, Governor Cooper, liberal School Boards like Chapel Hill, and political interest groups have set their eyes on restricting education options in North Carolina. They have even gone as far as suing in court to kill school choice initiatives that parents rely on like the Opportunity Scholarship. In contrast, the recently passed state budget expanded Opportunity Scholarships to all families in NC, empowering parents to choose the school which best fits their children. All families interested in applying will be able to do so starting on February 1st (keep an eye out for our future guide).

2. CAROLINA JOURNAL: NC celebrates National School Choice Week

"National School Choice Week is even more meaningful in 2024 since applications for the expanded Opportunity Scholarship Program are set to begin Feb. 1. Created in 2013, Opportunity Scholarships are meant to give all NC families the opportunity to choose a private school education for their child. The program has grown from 1,216 students for the 2014-2015 school year to 32,170 students for the current school year.

Today, around one-in-five students who attend a private school are on an Opportunity Scholarship. The program was originally means-tested and targeted to lower-income and working-class families. But changes enacted in the new state budget expanded the program to all families, regardless of income, in a tiered system that still prioritizes the lowest earners first."

3. NC VALUES: We've released our Legislative Scorecard

Yesterday we got to share with you the first of several helpful voter tools that we're releasing during our countdown to the 2024 election: the NC Values Legislative Scorecard.

Since 2011, we have published an annual Legislative Scorecard to help voters like you determine how your NC General Assembly Members voted on pro-life, pro-family, and pro-religious liberty legislation.

We believe publishing scores on General Assembly Members does make a difference in elections—by recognizing those legislators who vote for family values, by holding legislators who don't accountable for their votes, and by letting voters know who shares their values.

4. ABC 11: Abortion rights advocates call for greater access to mark Roe v. Wade anniversary

"'We do think it is decreasing abortions. It has helped prevent North Carolina from being the destination of abortion that North Carolina had been prior to the passage of Senate Bill 20 and what we would like to see is a continuation in the reduction of abortions,' said Tami Fitzgerald, Executive Director of the NC Values Coalition.

Fitzgerald described SB 20 as a first step, as she highlighted funding mechanisms in the measure.

'They sent money to pregnancy care centers. They sent money to pregnancy homes where women can live while they're pregnant. They sent money to childcare programs,' said Fitzgerald.

The legislation includes $160 million towards several resources, including child care, paid paternal care for state employees and teachers, access to contraceptives, reforms for maternal and infant mortality, and finish line grants, which assist students complete community college.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, North Carolina is one of two states that currently have 12-week bans, while 14 states have near total bans, and two other states have six-week limitations."

5. YOU'RE INVITED: Biblical Citizenship in Modern America Class

We invite you to join Patriot Academy for their "Biblical Citizenship in Modern America" online weekly course. It offers a quick-start guide to the longest standing Constitution in history, complete with an overview of all the Articles, and Amendments.

Attendees will learn how the Founders relied on their Christian moorings and Biblical worldview to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. They will also be treated to encouraging historical facts and inspirational true stories that are not taught in our educational institutions today.

If you are looking for a course to deepen your understand of our country's founding document and founding convictions, we invite you to join them every Tuesday evening online.

Learn more: https://www.patriotacademy.com/coach/register/6675

Weekly Prayer: NC Officials

LORD, you also have instructed us to pray for our governing officials, and we come to you in the spirit of this petition. We pray for our state government and its executive, legislative, and judicial servants. May they indeed be servants unto the people, and govern in a manner that protects liberty and virtue. In the same spirit, we pray for public servants across our local governments. May they all heed your mandate in Romans 13:4 to be in positions of authority as "God's servant" and for the "good" of the public. They govern in what we confess are difficult times. May they plead with you to give them wisdom, and may your grace to govern wisely be poured out on them.

Protect us from the oppression and loss of freedoms that other countries have experienced, and help us to value and preserve freedom, which we know comes only from You.

"I have indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free." Acts 7:34

Amen

Will you chip in $100, $50, $25, or even $10 to help the NC Values Coalition continue to fight for your rights? You can donate by clicking here.

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Sincerely,

Tami & Team
NC Values