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• Home Schoolers • College Doors Close Greet Model Teacher C A R O L I N A On Legal Residents Cameras Clock Speeders ‘The Language Police’ Volume 12, Number 7 A Monthly Journal of News, July 2003 Analysis, and Opinion from JOURNAL the John Locke Foundation www.CarolinaJournal.com www.JohnLocke.org Victims of Neglect, North Carolina’s Buildings Crumble State faces a backlog State’s political leaders of $1.3 billion in repairs; raided the reserve fund funds diverted elsewhere for their own projects By PAUL CHESSER By DON CARRINGTON Associate Editor Associate Publisher RALEIGH RALEIGH tudents and faculty at North Caro- ven though there was a $500 million lina Central University in Durham backlog of needed repairs and reno- S are learning to live with leaks from E vations, in 1996 legislative leaders its buildings’ old steam heating system. secretly diverted $21.3 million of repair Moisture seeping into the walls and leak- money for pet projects. age from the roofs has spawned outbreaks The money was distributed to about of mold in several of NCCU’s classrooms 250 nonprofit or local-government organi- and dormitories. zations without any formal application pro- Because the state’s Repairs and Renova- cess. tion Reserve has been drastically Senate leader Marc Basnight, a Demo- underfunded for at least three years, the crat, and former House Speaker Harold university is patching with operating funds Brubaker, a Republican, allotted themselves — or in some instances, is closing buildings. 45 percent of the money. Then-Gov. Jim In Raleigh, even the State Capitol build- Hunt was given a 10 percent share for hav- ing proved no match for neglect. Plaster in ing his budget office write the checks. its dome, soaked by rainwater that leaked After a news story by Carolina Journal in inside, cracked and fell into interior walk- early 1997 exposed the scheme, several ways. Now, contractors are busy repairing major newspapers also ran stories about the the damage. hidden slush fund and editorials con- The same can’t be said, though, for the demned the process. rest of the state’s deteriorating buildings and grounds. The State Construction Office The scheme estimated that nearly $1.3 billion is needed for repairs and renovations on its proper- Before its passage, legislative budget ties. writers made a last-minute change to the Carolina Journal photo by Richard Wagner Critics of North Carolina’s political lead- 1996 continuation budget bill. Following A construction worker carries plywood used in the erection of scaffolds inside the State Capitol. ership say the problem stems from a mis- the section dealing with expenditures for placement of priorities rather than from a repairing state buildings for fiscal 1996-97, lack of money. reverted to the General Fund $39.5 million was 1998-99, when lawmakers appropri- a paragraph was added that read, “Funds “It’s pretty obvious as you look at the of the $100 million from the reserve. The ated $145 million. earmarked in the 1995-96 fiscal year for the plant that the money has not been allocated next year, the General Assembly earmarked Allocations for the reserve are supposed Repairs and Renovations Reserve but not for basic repairs,” said state Sen. Richard $125 million for the reserve, but $116.4 mil- to equal 3 percent of the replacement value appropriated are hereby appropriated. The Stevens, a Cary Republican who was Wake lion was reverted to help balance the gen- of the state’s buildings ($14.7 billion as of Office of State Budget and Management County manager from 1984 through 2000. eral budget. Of the remaining $8.6 million August 2000), but only if a credit balance may allocate these funds for land acquisi- “Instead of funding repairs, [legislators] that was spent on repairs in 2002, $7 million exists at the end of the fiscal year. The tion, matching federal funds, State grants, raised taxes and added programs.” paid for security upgrades at state adminis- university system receives 46 percent of the and grant-in-aid.” The recent trend began in 1999 when the trative buildings in Raleigh and $1.6 mil- money, and the state’s other buildings get No specific amount of money was men- state was hit with a natural disaster in the lion paid for an air-conditioning system at 54 percent. Agencies submit their priori- tioned and few legislators noticed the form of Hurricane Floyd. Then, Gov. Mike the Museum of the Albemarle in Elizabeth tized lists of capital needs to OSBM, which change. When asked why the money was Easley took office in 2001 and was almost City. The museum has yet to open. then recommends to the Joint Legislative reappropriated with no strings attached, immediately faced with a budget deficit. The legislature allocated no money for Commission on Governmental Operations then-Budget Director Marvin Dorman told repairs and renovations in fiscal 2003. As of the projects that should be funded. CJ, “The General Assembly had a desire Repair funds redirected mid-June, House and Senate budgets con- Many agencies, knowing the state’s bud- that the money be spent on things they tained $50 million for the 2004 reserve, but get would likely eliminate reserve funding, wanted it spent on.” In 2000, $60 million of the $150 million whether the money would survive in the didn’t submit requests for repairs for the The checks started flowing in the fall of allocated for the state’s Repairs and Reno- final budget was still in question. coming year. But the State Construction 1996, just before the general election, which vations Reserve was redirected to hurri- According to the Office of State Budget cane relief. In 2001, when the state first and Management, the last year the Repairs realized its recent budget problems, Easley and Renovations Reserve was fully funded Continued as “Legislators Criticize,” Page 3 Continued as “Politicians Diverted,” Page 3 Term Limits for NC State Legislators? The John Locke Foundation NONPROFIT ORG. Contents 200 W. Morgan St., # 200 U.S. POSTAGE Favor 72% Raleigh, NC 27601 PAID Oppose 20% RALEIGH NC PERMIT NO. 1766 Not Sure 8% Calendar 2 State Government 3 Education 6 Higher Education 10 Local Government 14 Books & the Arts 18 Opinion 20 % of N.C. Respondents in Oct. 2002 JLF Poll Parting Shot 24 C A R O L I N A Contents ON THE COVER • Lindalyn Kakadelis writes that a recent • Randal O’Toole writes that data from the JOURNAL report on public opinions about public edu- 2000 Census show that at least 94.6 percent •A total of $1.3 billion is needed for repair cation affirms the obvious. Page 7 of the United States is rural open space. and renovation of state buildings and prop- Page 16 erty. Observers say the problem stems from • Karen Palasek reports that, based on vari- the setting of wrong priorities rather than ous studies, it appears that small high • An interview with former U.S. Navy sub- lack of money. Page 1 schools surpass larger ones when it comes marine captain Scott Waddle. Page 17 Richard Wagner to academic achievement. Page 8 Editor NORTH CAROLINA THE LEARNING CURVE HIGHER EDUCATION Paul Chesser, Michael Lowrey •A bill that has passed the state House • Kory Swanson reviews the book The Lan- Donna Martinez would turn what was intended to be a tem- • Two ideas under discussion in the state guage Police: How Pressure Groups Restrict Associate Editors porary state authority into a permanent legislature would make it more difficult for What Students Learn by Diane Ravitch. bureaucracy having expanded responsibili- legal residents of the state to be admitted Page 18 ties. Page 4 to the University of North Carolina. Karen Palasek, Jon Sanders Page 10 • Reviews of the books Creative Destruction: Assistant Editors • While defenders say the state’s political How Globalization Is Changing the World’s leaders have only followed the national • Faculty salaries in the University of North Cultures by Tyler Cowen, and How the Dis- trend in raising taxes to fill budget holes, a Carolina system compare well with those mal Science Got its Name by David Levy. Andrew Cline, Roy Cordato, Charles Davenport, Ian Drake, new report suggests that North Carolina is of their peers, according to a study released Page 19 Tom Fetzer, Nat Fullwood, almost alone in enacting large-scale tax in- in May by a Virginia public-policy think John Gizzi, David Hartgen, creases every year since 2001. Page 4 tank. Page 11 OPINION Summer Hood, Lindalyn Kakadelis, George Leef, Kathryn Parker, • Taking personal responsibility when trag- • A report from the Cato Institute suggests • An editorial on the Jayson Blair scandal Marc Rotterman, R.E. Smith Jr., edy strikes may not be easy or popular, but another method for paying for higher edu- at the New York Times and the troubling Jack Sommer, John Staddon, it is still the most honorable course of ac- cation other than student loans: human downward spiral of newspaper journalism George Stephens, Jeff Taylor, tion, says the former captain of a subma- capital contracts. Page 12 in general. Page 20 Michael Walden, Karen Welsh rine that struck and sunk a Japanese fish- Contributing Editors ing boat two years ago. Page 5 LOCAL GOVERNMENT • George Leef writes that grade inflation ought to be a high concern of college ad- Jenna Ashley, Jonathan Jones, EDUCATION • A General Assembly bill expected to be- ministrators, but there is little evidence that Hans Hurd, Paul Messino come law in late June authorizes the Char- they are willing to fight to stop it. Page 20 Editorial Interns • Winston-Salem hosted more than 8,500 lotte-Mecklenburg police department to North Carolina parents and students in expand its use of cameras to catch speed- • Michael Walden writes that in a new re- May at the 19th annual North Carolinians ers.

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