Rob Thompson hesitated for a moment, standing at the podium and looking about the room with a frustrated expression. Behind him stood 20 supporters of his organization, The Covenant with North Carolina’s Children, who held a press conference to protest state budget cuts to Medicaid and Smart Start. The problem was—no one showed up. The [...]
Multimillion-Dollar Mismanagement Rewarded
The local Smart Start branch in Durham County has made a decision that has caused considerable concern from parents, childcare providers, and even the Durham County Smart Start board itself. In December 2010, the Smart Start contractor Child Care Services Association (CCSA) mismanaged a multi-million childcare scholarship contract, kicking nearly 200 children off the scholarship [...]
Smart Start’s Partisan Tilt Displayed at Press Conference
At a packed May 26 press conference, Smart Start promoters joined with members of the Democratic minority in the NC House in attacking the Senate and House proposals to reorganize the early childhood education program. House Minority Leader Joe Hackney said the conference was called in order to address what he said was “the tremendous damage [...]
House Plans for HHS Budget
Interested in more details surrounding the House’s budget proposals for Health & Human Services; including programs like Smart Start and More and Four? Check out this overview by the Civitas Institute.
Smart Start and Talking About Politics
Gary Pearce on his blog Talking About Politics thinks he has uncovered a hitherto unknown discovery, “Unless I’m wrong (and I doubt that), it’s the first time in recorded history that an entity of the vast John Locke Foundation empire has argued that government can do something best.” Lots wrong with this. We are not [...]
