A bombshell investigation has found that the Biden Administration gifted millions in DEI grants to NC schools
Hi there,
Just before former President Biden left the White House, a bombshell investigative report found that Biden’s Justice Department issued $2.5 million in grants to North Carolina schools to fund Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), restorative justice and social emotional learning (SEL) initiatives.
The grants were part of a $100 million package, allocated since 2021, impacting 36 states, 946 school districts, and about 3.2 million students across the U.S., as identified by Parents Defending Education.
What do these grants actually do?
Parents Defending Education noted that these grants include collaborations with organizations, like the International Institute for Restorative Practices and Courageous Conversations about Race, "to improve school environments for communities affected by systemic inequalities, particularly LGBTQ+ and BIPOC groups."
Which North Carolina schools took Joe Biden’s DEI money?
Ashe County School District received $607,423 for a "Restorative Justice in Ashe County Schools" project with RTI International to improve school climate, reduce disciplinary infractions, and increase school safety.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools received $933,662 for a Social Emotional Learning (SEL) initiative for the district’s alternative program, mostly composed of students with a history of violent incidents or physical aggression.
The nearly $1 million grant to Durham Public Schools was for a restorative justice and SEL initiative focused on bullying and school violence prevention programs, for almost 6,000 high school students.
An additional $1 million was offered to the Public Health Authority of Cabarrus County (though this funding has yet to be accepted).
Critics point out that these programs don’t often achieve their intended goals, and in numerous cases,have the unintended consequence of negatively impacting the very learning environments they purport to help.
As Locke’s very own Dr. Bob Luebke said:
“Unjust discrimination in order to eliminate discrimination is never right and shouldn’t be tolerated. Neither should failed programs that erode legal rights and trivialize crime. These programs not only don’t work—they continue to have harmful impacts on our society. There are more than enough reasons why local school districts should end all DEI and Restorative Justice Programs.”
It’s well past time to say good riddance to the politically-biased, racially-divisive DEI programs in our schools, and leave these initiatives behind with 2024.
You can read more about the issues facing our schools and students here, here and here.
The FDA has announced it plans to move forward with a proposed rule to lower nicotine levels in cigarettes
The proposed rule would effectively mandate the production of Very Low-Nicotine (VLN) products
According to the FDA, this would lower nicotine levels by 96%
The rule was first proposed in 2018, and has been a long time coming
The proposal does not ban cigarettes or tobacco…
But the rule proposes a cap on nicotine levels of 0.7 milligrams per gram of tobacco
The FDA Commissioner stated that the proposed rule would save lives, reduce severe illnesses, and save large amounts of money
U.S. Rep. Pat Harrigan (NC-10), argues the rule would boost black market activity, harm small businesses, and represent government overreach
If approved, it would dramatically impact North Carolina’s economy
NC is the largest tobacco-producing state, with 822 tobacco-producing farms generating $557 million in revenue and $197 million of the state’s GDP
Our very own Brian Balfour warned that the rule, if approved, would deliver a crushing blow to NC’s tobacco industry
Tens of thousands of jobs will potentially be lost, along with billions of $ in economic output and forcing farms to scramble to find alternative uses of their land
We even commissioned a full report on how the proposed rule would impact North Carolina’s economy
You can read more about the rule’s impact on North Carolina here and here.
In 2018, North Carolina voters approved a Constitutional amendment that would reduce the cap on income taxes from 10% to 7% by a wide margin
In June of last year, the state Senate advanced a bill which included another Constitutional amendment to reduce the income tax cap further, from 7% to 5%
But unfortunately, the bill wasn’t also passed by the House
If the bill had been passed, voters would have had the opportunity to approve the new income tax cap in November
The Senate tried introducing the amendment (Senate Bill 920) again after the election, but still the House failed to act last month
The House should have passed the bill for the following reasons:
Voters should be able to limit the extent to which government can tax them
Ensuring lower income taxes attracts productive individuals and innovative businesses to the state
Reductions to the cap benefit all who pay income taxes, not just the wealthy
A lower cap increases stability and predictability for individuals and businesses
The state has continued to grow its savings by generating budget surpluses
And now that House Republicans have lost their supermajority, it unlikely passing an income tax cap reduction be politically viable in the future
