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Vouchers
The bill to expand private school vouchers is a bad idea — not just a bad idea, but a knife in the back of public education.
The N.C. General Assembly, the very people charged by our state’s constitution to provide and enhance free public education, are either willfully or unwittingly trying to diminish it. Paying parents to abandon public schools for alternative education does not bode well for the future of public education in our state.
Expanding these payouts is about as smart as defunding the police. Our legislators should be thinking of ways to improve our schools, not contribute to their demise.
Though costly, this bill only benefits a rather small constituency. Yes, this bill is an all-around bad idea.
Jerry Womack, Raleigh
Education funding
The proposed Choose Your School, Choose Your Future Act, which the N.C. legislature is poised to enact, will accelerate the Republican Party’s agenda to destroy the state’s public school system. By 2034, the law will provide an annual sum of more than a half a billion dollars for school vouchers, regardless of a family’s income. Taxpayers will thus subsidize the private education of the children of even wealthy families. This is wrong, especially in light of the fact that the legislature has refused to appropriate the $1.75 billion specified by the Leandro decision to help all N.C. children obtain a sound, basic education.
Maurice York, Greenville
Raleigh council
The last Raleigh City Council election demonstrated that Raleigh voters want a greater say in city affairs. Adding district council seats would provide an improved opportunity for citizen input and involvement. Districts seats enable more constituent interaction than do at-large seats.
When the current council size of eight was established, circa 1973, the city had a population of about 130,000. Now, the population is estimated to be more than 470,000. With the city having grown more than 3.5 times during these 50 years, it makes sense to increase the size of the city council.
Alan Tharp, Raleigh
Sit down and listen
At Mark Robinson’s April 24 gubernatorial campaign launch, N.C. Rep. Neal Jackson told the crowd that Republicans need someone “that will stand up and fight when there needs to be a fight.” Maybe it’s time to have someone who will sit down and listen with compassion and understanding to parents who have lost children to gun violence, to the voters when trying to limit voting rights, to women who already make difficult decisions about their health care, to educators about curriculum — and yes, to we the people.
Violet Rhinehart, Raleigh
Tenure
In the April 23 Opinion piece, “NC Republicans launch ‘most egregious’ attack in the country on UNC. Why?,” Rep. David Willis launches a veiled attack on faculty tenure at UNC. I believe that we should end tenure for politicians, not professors.
Jason Beverly, Chapel Hill
Swing votes
Regarding the April 25 article on key swing votes in the N.C. legislature, thank goodness there are members of both parties willing to vote independently. Blind party loyalty has not, until the last few years, been an expectation in American politics, and it is not a positive development. Let’s start again rewarding our representatives for thinking independently and working for the good of their constituents.
Arthur G. Powers, Raleigh
Tax cuts
One advantage of being a senior citizen is that I can remember the last time this country had not only a balanced budget but a surplus. It was the late 1990s and Bill Clinton was president. The surplus was being used to pay down the national debt. In 2000, George W. Bush was elected president and did the typical Republican thing. He said rather than pay down the debt, let’s use the surplus to have a tax cut. We haven’t had a surplus since and with each successive tax cut the deficit has increased. Perhaps it is time to reconsider these tax cuts.
John R. Shutt, Raleigh
US Supreme Court
Shock from learning about the recent disclosures regarding Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch has only been exceeded by the revelation that U.S. Supreme Court does not even have a code of ethics. Then, we learn that Chief Justice John Roberts refuses to testify at a congressional inquiry into this issue, citing “separation of powers” doctrine. He has yet to issue a public statement acknowledging the growing crisis in his court or announce a corrective plan of action. One doesn’t need a law degree to conclude that our Supreme Court is essentially admitting it is above the law. How ironic. Legitimate democracy demands accountability at all levels of government.
Keith Feather, Hillsborough
Congress must act
The Supreme Court has a serious ethics problem, and the latest revelations about Clarence Thomas should be alarming to every American. Supreme Court decisions impact every facet of American life. Because of this, justices must be held to the highest ethical standards. A court with no legitimacy only hurts the American people. It’s time for Congress to pass a Supreme Court code of ethics to bring legitimacy back to the court.
Ivy Williams, Durham
Originally published
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