Every year the John Locke Foundation commissions a poll of likely voters to understand how North Carolinians feel about school choice.
Hi there,
Every year, for National School Choice Week, the John Locke Foundation commissions a poll 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.
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, 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, here and here.
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!
And many of these corporate welfare schemes have very poor records
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…
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
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
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
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
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
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
Currently, 19 legislative chambers across 14 states have leadership term limits
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
The state implemented term limits for governor (then an appointed position) in its original constitution
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 of all 50 states)
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
