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Hi there,

Every year, for National School Choice Week, the John Locke Foundation commissions a poll ([link removed]) of likely voters to understand how North Carolinians feel about school choice.

What did we learn from this year’s poll?

Once again, it confirmed that North Carolinians not only support giving parents control over where their kids go to school, but the programs that make that possible.

More than 55% of respondents said they were unhappy with the quality of education in their local school.

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That’s an increase of 7% from last year! Amazingly, 60% of teachers also said they were unhappy with the quality of education in their local public school as well…

North Carolinians also acknowledge that PARENTS should be calling the shots for their children NOT board members and bureaucrats, with 72% of respondents saying that parents or guardians should determine which school a child attends.

And the programs that let parents send their children to a school of their choice are consistently popular.

Approximately 61% of respondents support the Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP), with only 27% opposed, and 12% unsure. Fifty-seven percent of teachers support the OSP, and notably, support for the OSP was higher among black voters (63%) than white voters (57%).

Support for charter schools remains strong, with approximately 60% in favor and 30% opposing (though support has slid by 9% since 2023), with all income levels showing majority support for charter schools.

The poll also demonstrated low support for the current system of funding schools, with 61% of respondents in favor of tying funding to student needs ([link removed]) , while only 16% supported the current formulas (23% were unsure).

What can we take away from this poll?

North Carolinians are increasingly unhappy with their local public schools, and with a strong conviction that parents should control their children’s education, support for school choice remains strong. They also have a strong preference to tie school funding to students’ needs, which would improve transparency, fairness, and accountability.

In this environment, with many voters expressing different views on what the purpose of education should be and high dissatisfaction with local public schools, school choice has a strong case to make for itself.

You can read more about school choice in North Carolina here ([link removed]) , here ([link removed]) and here ([link removed]) .

Esse quam videri,

Brooke Medina

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More from Locke
1) 💰💰💰 Corporate welfare failures not insulated from cost ([link removed])
* Former Governor Roy Cooper’s tenure was packed with taxpayer giveaways to hand-picked massive corporations
+ Some put North Carolinians on the hook for 39 years! ([link removed])
+ And many of these corporate welfare schemes have very poor records
o Nearly half of the Job Development Investment Grants (JDIG) awarded were withdrawn/terminated before the firms reached their hiring goals
* Supporters of these programs say that the money can be clawed back, and thus, there is no cost for failed projects
+ But is that really the case? Not at all, and here’s why…
o Opportunity cost - For every failed project, there are scarce resources like land, steel, time, heavy equipment, and much more that will be devoted to construction on the site. These resources, therefore, become unavailable for any other projects or investments
o Market forces vs. political decisions - Programs like JDIG shift scarce resources into the hands of businesses with the best lobbyists, not the most competent entrepreneurs, unfairly tipping the scales
o Cronyism - A system where politicians hand-pick which corporations will get competitive advantages via government handouts creates an atmosphere ripe for corruption
* The bottom line is that government intervention like JDIG makes society poorer, centralizes more economic power into the hands of the political class, and invites corruption

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

2) 🧓🧓🧓 The antiquated franchise tax from Antebellum ([link removed])
* The franchise tax, also known as the capital stock tax, is one of North Carolina’s most antiquated taxes, dating back to the Antebellum period (1849)
+ It taxes a business’ net worth on an annual basis, regardless if the company made a profit or took a loss that year.
+ The current version of the tax calculates net worth as follows:
o Net Worth = Assets - Liabilities - Accumulated Depreciation + Affiliated Indebtedness
* The tax, which has hardly changed since 1933, poses several drawbacks:
+ Deters investment - Taxing net worth discourages the accumulation of capital, hindering investment, disproportionately hurting capital-intensive firms like manufacturers
+ Stifles entrepreneurship - Its $200 minimum tax is especially burdensome to small businesses, creating a barrier to entry and reducing competition
+ Complicates accounting - In an effort to comply with the tax, businesses are forced to spend millions in administrative costs, and the complexity makes it a target for state auditors to charge penalties
+ Duplicative taxation - Taxing the accumulation of wealth and capital can result in a firm being taxed multiple times (e.g. a company-purchased car incurs sales tax, property tax, and the franchise tax)
* North Carolina should follow in the footsteps of the 35 other states who don’t tax businesses’ net worth, and eliminate the franchise tax
+ It weakens economic growth, reduces competition, generates administrative waste, and causes double taxation, for only a meager revenue

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You can read the full report here ([link removed]) .

3) 📆📆📆 Why NC should have term limits for legislative leadership ([link removed])
* In the 2023-2024 legislative session, both the House speaker and Senate president pro tempore broke records for their tenures
+ However, allowing a freer rotation of leadership would enable the consideration of new ideas and make old conflicts less likely to derail policy considerations
* The General Assembly should implement term limits for the chief leadership position in each chamber
+ Term limits would prevent power from stagnating under longstanding leadership, without limiting voters’ choice
o An 8-year term limit would mirror the governor and lieutenant governor
+ A growing number of states have implemented term limits specifically for legislative leaders
o Currently, 19 legislative chambers across 14 states have leadership term limits
o Only 1 state, Maine, imposes leadership term limits by statute; the rest impose limits by tradition or chamber rule
+ The idea of term limits dates back to the colonial era, with term limits for NC elected officials dating back to the 1700s
o The state implemented term limits for governor (then an appointed position) in its original constitution
o Though the governor’s office has increased its authority over the years, North Carolina’s history has favored legislative over executive power (with the weakest governor ([link removed]) of all 50 states)
o Consequently, there are no restriction limits on the appointment powers of the legislature, which confers executive-style power on legislative leaders
* Implementing an 8-year term limit on legislative leadership would bring North Carolina in line with other states, as well as its founding constitutional framework

You can get the full picture here ([link removed]) .

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