DPB Special Sunday Edition: Speaker Tillis' Hometown Newspaper: "Legislature acted unethically - if not unconstitutionally"

'Legislature acted unethically - if not unconstitutionally' - Charlotte Observer

The Kevin Siers political cartoon depicting Speaker Thom Tillis (R-Mecklenburg) as a midnight burglar also appeared in the Charlotte Observer.  The quote attributed to Speaker Tillis in the cartoon is the verbatim statement he made moments after the House action to disallow dues deduction to NCAE. 

Charlotte Observer Editorial:  A Midnight Madness We Should Do Without

 

Republican leaders of North Carolina's legislature acted unethically - if not unconstitutionally - in the middle of the night Thursday.

Led by House Speaker Thom Tillis of Mecklenburg County, Republicans voted to stop teachers who belong to the N.C. Association of Teachers from having dues automatically deducted from their paychecks.

Aside from whether it's good policy to single out one organization for different treatment from all others, the dark-of-night vote was exactly the kind of disregard for transparency that fuels voters' disgust with politicians.

Gov. Bev Perdue had called legislators back into session to consider her veto of a bill gutting the Racial Justice Act. Article III, Section 5 of the N.C. Constitution spells out that at such a session, "the General Assembly may only consider such bills as were returned by the Governor to that reconvened session for reconsideration."

In other words, the legislature could only vote on Perdue's veto of Senate Bill 9, the bill undoing the Racial Justice Act. Republicans didn't have the votes to override that veto, though. So late Wednesday night they adjourned Perdue's veto session and called for another extra session to start at 12:45 Thursday morning. At 1:12 a.m., they voted on the teachers' dues veto.

If that's not unconstitutional, it's certainly an affront to the citizens of North Carolina, who don't need the public's business being done in the dead of night with no notice. We don't approve of that kind of legislating from either party, and we've criticized Democrats in the past when they've forced quick budget votes without giving the public time to digest what was being voted on.

This week's vote might also be unconstitutional. The constitution spells out three ways the legislature can be called into session and two of those are by the governor. For legislators to call themselves into session, three-fifths of members must agree. Tillis made no effort to secure that three-fifths; he just did it.

Tillis defended the whole ordeal. "Some people probably don't like the fact we're here tonight. But the fact of the matter is we got it done, we're out of here, we're saving money and going back home," he said.

He argued that the public should have known Republicans could force votes at 1 a.m. But unless you're tracking legislative doings at that hour, it's not clear how the public could have known. The Racial Justice Act bill was the only one on the agenda, and Republicans gave zero notice that they were calling a new special session that would start 90 minutes later.

Asked if he expected the public to be at the legislature at 1 a.m., Tillis paused and said: "They're welcome."

The whole affair should be "a learning experience," Tillis said.

It's a learning experience, all right. The voters of North Carolina have learned a lot about how underhanded this particular crop of legislative leaders can be, and that they scoff at the notion of transparency.

Speaker Tillis Repeal of Five Additional Days

Speaker Tillis Predicts Repeal of Five Additional Days

 
 

     Less than a week after Governor Perdue requested the State Board of Education halt action on the five additional days mandated by state law so that she can work with the General Assembly to either repeal or fully fund, Speaker Thom Tillis predicted Monday night that the law would "come off the books" for the 2012-2013 school year. 


Take the time to thank Speaker Tillis at thom.tillis@ncleg.net.
 

By Jim Morrill and published in The Charlotte Observer on December 6, 2011

Controversial changes in North Carolina's school calendar could be reconsidered next year, House Speaker Thom Tillis said Monday night.
 
The Cornelius Republican also indicated that another voter ID bill could be offered in the spring legislative session, and he suggested lawmakers will seek more money for early childhood education.
 
Tillis made the comments at a town hall meeting in Matthews, where he spoke to more than 100 people. For more than an hour he answered questions about everything from state Medicaid cuts to ferry rates to state-required auto inspections.
 
In response to a question about changes to the school year, he said lawmakers are likely to revoke the change passed earlier this year that would lengthen the school year by five days to 185.
 
Last week state school board members said the change should take effect when the new school year starts next August.
 
Supporters say the change will benefit student performance. Critics say five extra days will cost school districts thousands of dollars to, among other things, run school buses and heat or cool classrooms.
 
"My guess is that will likely come off the books next year," Tillis said. "I'd put the odds at 70 percent or 80 percent."
 
He said later the change could come with revisions to the state budget during the so-called short session of the legislature that starts in May.
 
To read the entire Charlotte Observer article, click here. 
 
Morrill: 704-358-5059

 

Charlotte Mecklenburg Association of Eduucators and North Carolina Association of Educators

Time to end the delusion on education funding

Winston-Salem Journal: 'Time to end delusions about education funding'


 Click to read the Winston-Salem Journal's editorial on public education funding in North Carolina.

          

       ClClick here to read the latIt's time for the Republican legislators to stop deluding themselves about the adequacy of their funding of public education.

They did not protect classroom instruction when they cut $350 million from the state education budget this year. They did not protect the public schools as a whole and they did not just cut waste.

They cut essential programs, instructional personnel and dearly needed support staff. And, if they don't come up with additional money for education in the spring, they will force schools to cut again next year.

Gov. Bev Perdue is absolutely right when she argues that schools, if given the same state funding next year, will have to cut further in the classroom and in other services. There are two reasons for that.

The first is that federal funds, which some schools had accrued, had to be spent this year. Since Congress has now refused to appropriate more funds, they won't be available next year.

The second is that many schools had built their own reserves with local money. They have spent down those reserves over the last several years to soften the impact of the state cuts by both Democratic and Republican legislatures. County commissioners, therefore, would have to raise additional local money in 2012 to restore depleted reserves, most likely through property tax increases.

Republicans say they protected the classroom. But they did not. They only protected state-funded teaching positions and cut other operational funds for schools. That forced schools to cut teachers and other instructors, 1,800 of them. In essence, the legislature passed the buck.

Furthermore, in saying that they "protected the classroom," the leadership perpetuates the myth that schools waste money on extraneous things like counseling. That's nonsense. School counselors are often essential to help troubled children learn. Media specialists are essential to teach children to use libraries. Nurses are needed to care for children. Yet people in these positions have been cut over the years under the lie that they were extraneous.

It is unlikely that the state's revenue flow will rescue the schools when the legislature reconvenes in the spring. Regardless of those revenues, the legislature must find additional money for our schools, if only to maintain their weakened status quo.
 

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DPB Thanksgiving Schedule

DPB will not be published Thanksgiving week, and will resume on Monday, November 28.  DPB will be in the office Monday through Wednesday of the holiday week so feel free to forward story ideas or political news from your area of the state.  As always, DPB is grateful for you and your public service to North Carolina's children and communities. 



Education Issues for 2011

 

  •   To maintain the 1% sales tax that is set to expire in order to sustain teaching positions for class size stability.
  •   Raise the tax on beer and wine, canned/ bottled soft drinks and teas, as well as all energy drink sales by $.05. Also increase cigarette sales tax by $.25 to fund teaching assistants.
  • Do not support vouchers (tuition tax credits) that allow public school funds to be used for private schools and home schooling.
  •  Do not allow charter school language to be changed to eliminate demographic and accountability requirements.
  • Do not create Pay for Performance plans based on individual employee value-added scores.
  •    Fully fund Pre-K programs and North Carolina Public Schools.
  • Do not support over-testing of students.
  •   Maintain the state insurance and retirement systems in their current form so that we can recruit well-qualified applicants to the school systems.
  • Do not support the re-segregation of public schools and public school programs.