LAWSUIT FILED OVER DEATH PENALTY CASES THAT EXCLUDED BLACK JURORS: In a friend-of-the-court brief, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund cited statistical evidence of racial discrimination by Cumberland County prosecutors, who dismissed more than half of all eligible black jurors compared to a quarter of all others. This bias "unquestionably tainted" the sentencing process, lawyers argued. "The continuing stain of racial discrimination not only invalidates the death sentences imposed on these defendants, but it also undermines public confidence in North Carolina’s judicial system as a whole," Jin Hee Lee, LDF senior deputy director of litigation, said in a press release. "The Court must be unequivocal in rejecting racial bias in North Carolina juries, especially in death penalty cases, by giving the defendants a chance to challenge the discrimination they faced."
https://www.wral.com/civil-rights-group-says-state-supreme-court-must-address-bias-in-death-penalty-...

PUBLIC MEETING TODAY ON CHARLOTTE'S LIKELY HOSTING OF RNC 2020 CONVENTION: Charlotte, North Carolina, a Democrat-dominated city whose transgender-friendly bathroom ordinance triggered a statewide political war, is a front-runner to host the 2020 Republican Convention where President Donald Trump seeks an anointing to run for a second term. Charlotte's mayor says that would be just fine. But some local Democratic officials say: Not so fast. The City Council has scheduled a special meeting Monday to decide whether to accept a yet-to-be-extended offer from the GOP. Published reports suggest Charlotte is favored to land the convention. Fellow council member Braxton Winston said in a video that Charlotte should slow down and discuss whether it should pursue the convention. "We would be asking the people of Charlotte to host a celebration for a brand of politics that has been highly divisive and some would say dangerous to our community," Winston wrote.
https://www.wral.com/gop-convention-could-come-to-democrat-friendly-charlotte/17699320/

ENROLLMENT IN TRADITIONAL PUBLIC SCHOOLS HAS DROPPED TO 80% DUE TO PRIVATIZATION CRUSADE: Enrollment in the state’s traditional public schools has fallen each year since the 2014-15 school year, dropping by 14,293 students in that time period. At the same time, charter schools added 31,199 students. Newly released state figures show that during that same three-year period, enrollment in homeschools went up by 28,896 students and private schools gained 4,516 students. Private school enrollment had been on the decline before the voucher program was created. The enrollment disparity was particularly sharp during the 2017-18 school year, when traditional public schools lost 6,011 students from the prior year even as charter schools, homeschools and private schools combined added 18,093 students.
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article214708040.html

COUNTY EDUCATION BUDGETS SUFFERING FROM GOP STATE-LEVEL TAX CUTS: The school board has to cut its budget after the Wake County Board of Commissioners provided only $45 million of the extra $59 million district officials requested to fund schools in 2018-19. The cuts mean fewer support teachers, fewer school counselors, a negligible local raise for teachers and even higher costs for student parking. But board member Bill Fletcher said Wednesday that the cuts don't have to be that deep. For years, he said, lawmakers have been shifting costs the state should be covering to the counties. "If the Republicans are going to say, 'We're going to reduce taxes at the state because that's a good thing to do,' but we're going to require the counties to increase taxes to pay for it, that's not right," said Fletcher, who's a registered Republican.
https://www.wral.com/wake-school-board-member-says-state-unfairly-shifting-costs-to-counties/17691447/

NC TEACHERS FORMING CONGRESS WHICH MAY LEAD TO WALKOUTS: Red4EdNC is asking educators to sign its "Declaration in Defense of North Carolina's Public Schoolchildren," which lists grievances with state legislators such as inadequate school funding. The teachers advocacy group says the declaration will lead to the formation of a "Teachers Congress" that will develop "collective actions" that will be used by teachers if legislators don't agree to their demands. Angie Scioli, founder of Red4EdNC, said the Teachers Congress will look at what's happened in other states, such as Arizona, Kentucky and West Virginia, where teachers used strikes and walkouts to press for changes. She said all options would be on the table. "We’re the teachers on the front lines and in the classrooms. You can fool a lot of people on the degree to which public education is being supported to people who aren’t in classrooms every day, but we are teachers and we know."
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article214446374.html