McCrory's empty bag of education policies

When you grab at straws, you inevitably end up clutching unnecessary and costly solutions:

McCrory wants high schools to offer two diploma tracks, an academic path and a vocational path, as a way to reduce the dropout rate among students who have no interest in pursuing a four-year college degree. The state celebrated in August a high school graduation rate of more than 80 percent, but still, too many students aren’t graduating, McCrory said in an interview.

Here's a revelation for you, Einstein: Public schools already offer multiple paths. Basic graduation requirements do not include the full range of college prep courses, but they do include critical skills the business world deems necessary to function in entry-level positions. But if you screw around with that traditional understanding, both of your diplomas may lose relevance.

But I'm not sure we should even worry about that, since McCrory has nothing but vague, rehashed conservative memes at his disposal to find the money for his bad ideas:

McCrory says tax revenue may be moved around the broad education budget, but he’s not calling for more. “There is no new money,” McCrory said. McCrory maintains that the state budget isn’t really balanced because it owes the federal government more than $2 billion – money it borrowed to pay unemployment benefits.

“We don’t need to pour in more money,” he said. “You first fix the system. If more money is needed, I’ll find it” by cutting inefficiency and waste.

Even if we weren't in a recession, that "cutting inefficiency and waste" argument should be laughed off any campaign platform. Voters have been hoodwinked by it more times than can be counted. But for the last three years or so, department heads have been cutting fat (and muscle) so much what's left couldn't pay for a pack of pencils.

I know there are a lot of Democrats out there leaning towards McCrory. Or at least not very concerned about this particular race. Both of those positions are irresponsible, and deserve a hell of a lot more circumspection.