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Good evening,

Every year, more students across the country, including North Carolina, are turning to an old form of education: classical schools.

A new study ([link removed]) estimated that for the 2023–24 school year, more than 677,500 students attended 1,551 classical schools across the country.

In North Carolina alone, there are now 43 classical private and charter schools (3rd most in the nation).

Classical education isn’t a new phenomenon. It’s a way of imparting knowledge that has existed for thousands of years.

Most classical schools educate students using a method of instruction called the Trivium. This program emphasizes grammar, logic, and rhetoric. Students progress from learning the basic facts and rules of a subject, to learning how to process the facts to obtain a deeper understanding about how that subject works, and finally, they learn to combine facts and logic to communicate and persuade.

But how does this method work in practice?

In one small network of charter schools in North Carolina, students study historical eras in four-year cycles. They progress from studying the basic events, dates, people, and places of the era, to discussing the causes and effects of those events, and finally to having deep discussions about what they have learned, focusing on persuasive techniques including establishing credibility on the topic (ethos), reasoning logically (logos), and appealing to emotion (pathos).

As more and more parents are dissatisfied with the quality of K-12 education found in their local schools, classical schools offer a content- and character-rich education focused on instruction in the “great books” and transcendent values.

For those interested, the Classical Schools Database ([link removed]) compiles general information about classical schools across the country, including curriculum. The database, released earlier this month, is meant to “inform parents, teachers, school leaders, lawmakers, and citizens interested in the revival of classical liberal arts education”.

You can learn more about classical education here ([link removed]) , here ([link removed]) , and here ([link removed]) .

Esse quam videri,

Donald Bryson

Watch our latest Better Carolina Video!

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More from Locke
1) 🪧🪧🪧 House Bill 967 aims to keep voting places peaceful, political signs safe ([link removed])
* A new bill in the General Assembly would extend conduct rules at polling places to include private buildings used as voting locations
+ The current law already bans disruptive actions like loud noise, graffiti, or general nuisance behavior near public polling places
+ The proposed bill would apply those same restrictions to places like churches or community halls temporarily used for elections
* Voters could face misdemeanor charges for disruptive behavior near polling places
+ The terms “rude or riotous noise” and “nuisance” raise free speech concerns, but no new powers are being added
+ It ensures voters at all locations, public or private, get the same protections from interference
o The bill also targets campaign sign tampering, making it a Class 3 misdemeanor to steal or vandalize signs near polling places
o Protection applies only to signs legally placed outside the required 25–50 foot buffer from the entrance
o Offenders would face fines unless they have multiple prior convictions
* The bill’s bipartisan support is a surprise, with Rep. Pricey Harrison (D) backing the bill despite its Republican sponsor, Tricia Cotham (who switched parties in 2023)
+ Harrison’s cosponsorship may signal pragmatic cooperation, or at least a rare “only Nixon could go to China” moment in Raleigh

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

2) 🩺🩺🩺 North Carolina’s Certificate of Need law is under fire ([link removed])
* North Carolina’s Certificate of Need (CON) law drives up health care costs and lowers quality for North Carolinians
+ The law dictates that providers must get state approval just to expand, add equipment, or treat more patients — approvals that are nearly impossible to obtain
+ This creates a monopoly for large hospital systems, blocking competition and innovation
+ States with CON laws spend more on health care, and have worse access and care
o There are higher death rates, including 5 more deaths per 100,000 people annually
o Mortality rates for major illnesses like pneumonia, heart failure, and heart attack are significantly worse
* Besides being terrible policy, CON law also violates the NC State Constitution
+ The state Supreme Court struck it down in 1971, calling it a deprivation of liberty and a monopoly
+ But the General Assembly rewrote the law in 1977 with shaky justifications, and has kept it alive through legislative loopholes
* But, there is hope for repealing CON law in NC
+ Bills like SB 370, HB 455, and SB 257 would fully repeal the law; others aim to chip away at it
+ Full repeal is the only way to end this preposterous boondoggle once and for all, and restore access, affordability, and fairness for North Carolinians

Read the full article here ([link removed]) .

3) 🔋🔋🔋 A new way to promote affordable, reliable electricity in NC ([link removed])
* Carbon Plan modeling has been skewed to support the plan’s goal of a 70% reduction in emissions by 2030
+ The modeling favors unreliable, intermittent renewables over dependable power, like nuclear and natural gas
* House Bill 951(the original law) was clear that the Carbon Plan be “reasonable” and take the “least-cost path”, and that reliability be maintained or improved, not sacrificed
+ Yet the interim goal of 70% carbon reduction was elevated above all else in utility modeling
* To solve this problem, not only should the Carbon Plan be repealed, but a “Only Pay for What You Get Act” should be passed
+ Under the act, utilities would earn profits only on the reliable portion (capacity value) of a power plant
+ Solar and wind, which underperform at peak times, would return lower profits
+ Nuclear and gas, with high capacity values, would therefore be more attractive to investors
+ West Virginia is already ahead of the curve with its own version, the “Reliable and Affordable Electricity Act”
o It ties the rate-of-return to how much reliable output a power plant can actually deliver
o This deters overbuilding unreliable plants and passing on higher costs to consumers, just to pad profit margins
* Repealing the Carbon Plan’s interim goal with the “Only Pay for What You Get Act” model could slash future rate hikes by 28%, saving North Carolina consumers billions of dollars in future utility bills

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


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