I haven't been on bluenc for a long time. But I thought some of you might be interested in a video I did a while back. Normally my you tube videos are about my retirement hobby, record collecting and I stay away from politics but I felt a strong need to put this out there.
The Harnett County Board of Education held an emergency meeting this week. It seems the current superintendent recently submitted his resignation / retirement effective February 1st. The board had undergone some recent changeover as a result of both the election (one of the two Democrats on the board was defeated), and a couple of resignations with appointed replacements. Up to this point it all seemed like a fairly normal event that might occur in most any county.
Here is my letter to my senators and representative (Holding) regarding the ACA. I don't pretend to think it will do any good, but at least maybe they will know that they are being held accountable for their role. Or maybe the effort will make me feel a little better.
Senator Burr
Senator Tillis
Representative Holding
Sometimes we need to remember that there are men and women of integrity that serve our local communities, state and nation. When our elected officials are discouraged they need to remember those that came before them and set the right example.
"Another friend, former North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Burley Mitchell, said Morgan voted to give the Panama Canal back to Panama in the late 1970s even though he knew it was unpopular back home.
Our GOP legislators and governor keep crowing about teacher pay raises. They are making all kinds of claims about average pay, percents of increase and so on and so forth.
Here are some statistics to ponder. They were compiled by Catawba College political science professor, Dr. Michael Bitzer using information from the State Board of Elections. I tried to find his original report but was unable to locate it. This comes from a Tom Campbell opinion piece I read in the Dunn Daily Record.
So the GA has proclaimed that they will no longer fund the Driver Education program at the end of this fiscal year. It appears that they are going to leave it up to the LEA's to come up with the funds.
"It is the intent of the General Assembly that, beginning with the 2015-2016 fiscal year, the driver education program administered by the Department of Public Instruction in accordance with G.S.115C-215 shall no longer be paid out of the Highway Fund based on an annual appropriation by the General Assembly. Local boards of education shall use funds available to them, including a fee for instruction charged to students pursuant to G.S.115C-216(g), to offer noncredit driver education courses in high schools"
Sorry I missed this earlier. James
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Our representatives in the General Assembly are servants of the people. We elect them and expect them to listen and at least acknowledge our concerns. Earlier in the short session I made the effort to send e-mails to each of our house and senate members. After crafting a letter voicing my concerns regarding one very specific aspect of the budget I modified one version for senators, another for house members and another one that was more personal for my local representatives.
Now there is a generic address you can use to send out bulk e-mails but I figured that probably wouldn't carry much weight with them and in all likelihood wouldn't even be read.
In each of the previous two budgets drastic cuts were made in the Driver's Education program. Each county receives funds to pay for the program and with state cuts the counties have been stretched to the limit. Salaries for instructors have been slashed, worn out vehicles haven't been replaced and classroom materials are nonexistent.
The senate budget cuts 28 million from DPI's bus transportation in 2014-15 and transfers from the highway fund to DPI the 26 million Driver's Education fund. It then instructs DPI to decide how much of that to use for buses and how much for DE. In 2015-16 the 26 million DE fund (either from the Highway fund or DPI) is eliminated all together.
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