Now that the election is over, we turn our attention to holding our newly elected leaders accountable.

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Hi there,

Now that the election is over, we turn our attention to holding our newly elected leaders accountable, and continuing the good fight for the right policies.

And that includes our governor-elect, Democrat Josh Stein.

Two weeks ago, in an interview on Spectrum News’ Capital Tonight ([link removed]) , Stein repeated multiple inaccurate claims about various topics, including the Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP).

Stein’s opposition to the OSP is no secret, but his claims were still surprising.

In one part of the interview, he said:

“Right now, they’re giving half a billion dollars to people, public taxpayer dollars, taking it away from public schools to give to unaccountable private schools and wealthy families. And understand there are no curriculum requirements, there are no teacher certification requirements, there is no requirement that these schools not discriminate against students.”

What is Stein talking about? Let’s separate the truth from fiction in his statement:
* Myth - They’re taking taxpayer dollars away from public schools
+ OSP is administered via the University of North Carolina system
+ As such, it makes no sense to suggest that the money appropriated for OSP would otherwise go to public schools
* Myth - OSP money goes to schools that are unaccountable
+ State law spells out the numerous obligations placed on nonpublic schools that accept students receiving OSP grants
+ These obligations include (but are not limited to):
o Administering a national standardized test
o Provide criminal background checks for school members
o Have an independent financial audit for all schools with over 70 scholarship students
o Report graduation rates and aggregate scores of nationally standardized tests to the NC State Education Assistance Authority (NCSEAA)
* Myth - Scholarship funds are for wealthy families
+ The OSP is built to help children from low and moderate income families
o The OSP uses a sliding scale for scholarship amounts, with lower-income families receiving larger scholarships
o The awards range from:
# $7,460 for students in lower-income tiers
# And $3,360 for higher-income tiers
+ Moreover, why should it be considered okay for taxpayer funds to be used to educate children from wealthy families in traditional public schools, but not private schools of their choice?
* Myth - Private schools should have the same curriculum as public schools
+ Private schools offer different curriculums than public schools for a reason: to offer different academic, pedagogical, or religious perspective
+ Many private schools are also accredited by governing bodies, such as the North American Christian School Accrediting Agency
+ OSP schools are also required by law to offer standardized testing in basic subject areas like grammar, spelling and mathematics
+ And finally, schools of choice are ultimately held accountable by the parents
* Myth - Private schools should have the same teacher certification requirements as public schools
+ Teacher certification is not a prerequisite to teacher quality, nor to improved student outcomes
+ And just because private schools use different means to ensure they have quality teachers, does not mean they offer an inferior educational product

Once again, Stein’s complaint completely ignores the ability of parents to hold the schools they choose for their children accountable, as well as the schools’ ability to demonstrate their instructional quality, through student performance on standardized tests and more.

You can read more here ([link removed]) , here ([link removed]) and here ([link removed]) .

Esse quam videri,

Brooke Medina


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1) 🏠🏠🏠 Six years after Hurricanes Matthew and Florence and NOT a single new home built for victims ([link removed])
* How is that possible?
+ In 2018, Rebuild NC was created to leverage federal funds to direct the construction and repair of homes after hurricanes Matthew and Florence
+ The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) gave $236.5 million for Matthew, and $542.6 million for Florence
o The almost billion dollars has to be spent by 2025 and 2026
* If you’re wondering if they’ve spent that money… don’t worry they have
+ They’ve spent $234.6 & $506.9 million so far…
+ But now they need an additional $175 million dollars from the state government
* If you’re wondering how big this organization is…
+ Well, they were established as a temporary agency to spend that money
+ And like any government program, they just won’t go away
o Their temporary timeline was removed in 2021, and as of October 2023, they have 200 employees of whom 32 get six figure salaries
* And the obvious next question is, with almost a BILLION taxpayer dollars, how do they need more money???
+ Well, 90 errors cost about $1.34 million
+ $2.5 million may have been spent inappropriately
+ They didn’t create proper control mechanisms to prevent the misuse of funds or evaluate outcomes
+ And the latest audit says that these errors were only “partially corrected” and estimates that all issues will be resolved by 2024…
* But at least we got our money’s worth right?
+ Well, not really
o By 2024 they were supposed to have constructed 308 houses…
# They have constructed zero
o They were also supposed to have helped rebuild 6,440 houses…
# They have reconstructed 2,235
o And to top it all off, they’ve overspent by $34.3 million
* So what should we do?
+ Investigate what’s going on
+ Change the leadership
+ And when we’ve built the homes we promised to build, shut it down


Get the whole story here ([link removed]) .

2) 🗳️🗳️🗳️ More reasons to switch to paper ballots in the 2024 election ([link removed])
* One machine in Kentucky changed people’s votes from Donald Trump to Kamala Harris
+ This mistake was replicated 1 time, but registered the correct vote the second time, and was then taken out of service
* A local paper in NJ reported similar problems… as did voters in MD
* PBS News Hour reported other problems in a September 27 report including:
+ Vulnerabilities to hackers before AND during the voting process
* So what should we do?
+ All North Carolina counties should use hand marked paper ballots
o Seven counties still use ballot marking devices
o And that means the General Assembly should require all counties to use hand-marked paper ballots


Get the whole story here ([link removed]) .

3) 👩👩👩 Patriotic female rebels in 1774 ([link removed])
* In North Carolina, in October 1774, the ladies of Edenton banded together to hold the first documented political protest led by American women
* Despite having very few political and legal rights of their own, Penelope Barker and these women asserted their belief in the God given right of North Carolinians to decide their own destiny
* Despite being attacked in the English press for their actions, these women did not back down
* In A Letter to the King ([link removed]) , these brave women stated: “We cannot be indifferent on any occasion that appears nearly to affect the peace and happiness of our country, and…it is a duty to which we owe, not only to our near and dear connections,…but to ourselves.”

Please watch these brave patriots' stories here ([link removed]) .


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