Charter School Applications Surge

From Carolina Journal’s David Bass:

Demand for new charter schools in the Tar Heel State has surged following the enactment of a bill approved by the N.C. General Assembly and signed into law by Gov. Bev Perdue in 2011 that lifted the 100-school cap.

By mid-April, approximately 60 applications — a record-breaking number — for new charters had been submitted to the N.C. Office of Charter Schools. If approved, the new charter schools would open by the fall of 2013.

The applications run the gamut of rural and urban regions across North Carolina — from the Triad, Triangle, and Charlotte regions to rural Randolph and Chatham counties.

In Wake County, two schools — Longleaf School of the Arts and Wisdom Academy — submitted applications. If all of Mecklenburg County’s 11 applications are OK’ed, the county could soon a boom in charter-school growth.

This Is The Kind Of Cost Analysis We Need

State legislators are analyzing the net cost to taxpayers for a variety of state attractions. It’s exactly the kind of cost analysis we must pursue if we intend to be good stewards of the public treasury. Analyzing the real costs of these sites doesn’t denigrate their beauty or value.  It simply attaches a cost to these sites, from which I hope legislators will decide appropriate funding levels, potential increases in user fees, and other funding mechanisms. The N.C. Zoo, for example, is looking at a public-private partnership model. In my case, I love museums, but that doesn’t mean I should expect — or that it is a appropriate — for taxpayers to subsidize my visits.

“Edwards did what the evidence will show he always did … deny, deceive and manipulate”

Politico gives a good brief summary of yesterday’s opening statements in the John Edwards trial in Greensboro federal court. Edwards faces six counts of campaign finance violations over the nearly $1 million he took to hike mistress Rielle Hunter. From prosecutor David Harbach:

“He had to keep it quiet. If the affair went public, it would destroy any chance he had to be president, and he knew it,” Harbach said. “He made a choice to break the law — a very simple law that says the most a presidential candidate can accept [from any individual] is $2,300.”

“Edwards did what the evidence will show he always did … deny, deceive and manipulate,” Harbach contended.

And then from Edwards attorney AllisonVan Laningham:

“John Edwards is a man who has committed many sins but no crimes,” Van Laningham said in her opening. “We aren’t going to judge John Edwards for his sins.”