lt gov dan forest

<div>=</div><div>=<a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/12/charter-schools/">https://www.alternet.org/2020/12/charter-schools/</a>as  the COVID-19 pandemic began closing school buildings and forcing schools to quickly ramp up online learning programs in April, an <a href="https://www.the74million.org/article/medler-by-applying-for-federal-waivers-states-can-shake-loose-grant-funding-to-help-schools-during-the-pandemic-heres-how/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">op-ed</a> by Alex Medler, the executive director of the Colorado Association of Charter School Authorizers, made an appeal to Betsy DeVos's Department of Education to change the guidelines of her department's grants for new charter school startups to allow the money to go to existing charter schools. Medler justified the request to address "immediate needs during the pandemic." But when Chalkbeat <a href="https://www.chalkbeat.org/2020/6/11/21288600/charter-schools-waiver-department-education-covid" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">broke the story</a> that DeVos would agree with Medler and approve Florida's request to repurpose about $10 million in grant money for new charter schools to be redirected to existing charters, Medler made the curious admission to Chalkbeat reporter Matt Barnum that another reason for the need to change grant requirements was because "there aren't enough new [charter] schools being created across the country to spend all the… money on the one purpose of funding the start-up of new charters."Is the charter school industry, even before the current crisis, really on the skids?The annual rate of charter school growth nationwide from 2014 to 2016 was <a href="https://www.educationdive.com/news/report-charter-growth-leveling-off/546774/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">half</a> of what it was between 2008 and 2014, according to a 2019 report from pro-charter nonprofit Bellwether Education Partners. And in some states where charters have proliferated, these schools are <a href="https://www.beaconjournal.com/news/20190816/fewer-ohio-students-attending-charter-schools" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">seeing</a> student enrollments drop.Many communities that have been reliable markets for the charter industry are now having <a href="https://chalkbeat.org/posts/tn/2019/04/04/heres-who-wants-to-open-a-charter-school-in-memphis-in-2020/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">fewer</a> new charter school openings. Some of these cities are getting <a href="https://chalkbeat.org/posts/chicago/2019/12/09/as-political-winds-shift-no-new-charter-schools-apply-to-open-in-chicago/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">no new charters</a> at all.But this negative view of the charter market is contradicted by evidence of new charter schools proliferating in some places.One of those places is northeast Wake County, North Carolina, a suburban sprawl outside Raleigh that includes Rolesville, Wake Forest, Wakefield, Zebulon, and other <a href="https://www.niche.com/places-to-live/wake-forest-wake-nc/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">rapidly growing</a> bedroom communities. The generally affluent region—the <a href="https://www.zipdatamaps.com/economics/income/agi/state/wealthiest-zipcodes-in-north-carolina" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">sixth-wealthiest zip code</a> in the state—is now <a href="https://edpolitics.org/education-101-dont-open-a-new-charter-school-in-the-middle-of-a-pandemic/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">home to 11 out of the 24</a> Wake County charter schools. And more are <a href="https://www.wral.com/two-more-wake-county-charter-schools-approved-despite-local-school-boards-objection/18503935/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">scheduled to open</a>.In 2019, local school officials and school PTAs <a href="https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article229943034.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">implored</a> the North Carolina State Board of Education not to approve the two newest charters coming to Wake Forest, a community in northeast Wake County, arguing that charter "saturation" was adding to racial segregation in local schools and threatening to financially destabilize the district. The state board approved the schools anyway.In 2020, Wake County parents have written <a href="https://wakeforestgazette.com/opinion-letter-outlines-problem-with-charter-school/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">letters</a> to local news outlets saying new charter schools aren't needed, and they've <a href="https://www.cbs17.com/news/local-news/wake-county-news/wake-forest-planning-board-pushes-back-vote-on-charter-school-plan/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">protested</a> at public hearings considering whether to open the new charters.One of the charters the state had approved to open in Wake Forest, Wake Preparatory Academy, was rejected by the town's Board of Commissioners, the Wake Forest Gazette <a href="https://wakeforestgazette.com/kinsley-withdrawn-charter-school-sunk/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">reported</a>, because the board found the school's site plan and subdivision proposal had not met the town's requirements. The school is appealing the ruling to the state.Why are new charter schools opening in northeast Wake County?"Charter schools can open where they choose," Christine Kushner answered. Kushner, a Princeton graduate in public policy who has lived in Wake County for more than 20 years, has been on the school board of the Wake County Public School System since 2011.In our phone conversation, Kushner asserted the schools are not needed, "academically or for capacity reasons." She disputed claims charter operators have made that the northeast part of the county "needs seats," and she called that claim, "not an accurate statement."One reason why charter schools are expanding in northeastern Wake County seems to be because they can.In 2011, when the North Carolina state legislature <a href="https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article225299125.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">voted to lift</a> the state's maximum limit of 100 charters allowed in the state, there was little to no consideration of where charters should expand to. Ten years later, with the number of charters nearly doubled, it seems that the charter industry itself has been allowed to determine that.The state's light regulatory hand consists of a <a href="https://www.dpi.nc.gov/students-families/innovative-school-options/charter-schools/charter-schools-advisory-board" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Charter Schools Advisory Board</a> that receives and reviews charter applications and renewals and makes recommendations to the State Board of Education, which makes the final decision.It is not uncommon for <a href="https://files.nc.gov/dpi/documents/charterschools/board/contacts.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">members</a> of the advisory board to have close associations with charter schools, including Joe Maimone who <a href="https://bit.ly/2TMrECm" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">co-founded</a> a charter, NC Policy Watch's Progressive Pulse reported; Jeannette Butterworth who <a href="https://www.blueridgenow.com/news/20181220/jeannette-butterworth-appointed-to-nc-charter-school-advisory-board" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">served on the board</a> of a charter school, Blue Ridge Now reported; Cheryl Turner who <a href="https://movement.com/blog/2016/12/07/cheryl-turner-charter-school-movement-school/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">was</a> a principal of a charter school, Movement reported; and Lindalyn Kakadelis who <a href="https://www.johnlocke.org/person/lindalyn-kakadelis/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">was an employee</a> of a state-based right-wing advocacy group that promotes charter schools, Nonprofit Quarterly <a href="https://nonprofitquarterly.org/red-pedagogy-sinks-indigenous-charter-school-approval-in-nc-native-country/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">reported</a>.Another member, Steven Walker, was appointed by Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest, who the <a href="https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/2016/01/08/forest-wants-revamp-negative-charter-school-report/78496424/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Asheville Citizen-Times</a> and the <a href="https://www.courier-tribune.com/news/20200104/report-looked-at-racial-impact-of-nc-charter-schools-that-section-is-being-removed" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Courier-Tribune</a> reported has repeatedly tried to squelch information from the state's education department showing charter schools serve disproportionately larger percentages of white and affluent students.The Charter Schools Advisory Board sets "a pretty low bar" for new charter applicants to gain approval, Kushner told me, and the State Board of Education "often follows the advisory board's recommendations," <a href="https://www.ncpolicywatch.com/2020/10/27/a-look-behind-the-curtain-at-ncs-charter-school-oversight-process/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">according to</a> NC Policy Watch.A Policy MysteryFrom a policy standpoint, the geographic placements of charter schools are murky.The shifting policy justifications for charters—whether they're a <a href="https://www.wgbh.org/news/2016/10/25/politics-government/charter-schools-its-issue-civil-rights" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">civil rights cause</a>, an agent for <a href="https://www.usnews.com/opinion/knowledge-bank/articles/2017-05-08/how-charter-schools-improve-traditional-district-education" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">improving the performance</a> of public schools, or a necessary <a href="https://www.redefinedonline.org/2018/10/school-choice-for-choices-sake/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">choice for choice's sake</a>—don't clearly explain why charter schools show up where they do.If charters are necessary for equity, then why are they showing up in affluent northeast Wake County? If charters are needed in places where the state's public schools are the lowest-performing, then Wake County is <a href="https://www.wfdd.org/sites/default/files/ISD%20November%20Presentation%20for%20SBE_11062019_195117sr0zbt21s5c4xkewp4t5edzq.pdf#page=18" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">well down the list</a> of districts in need. And if choice for choice's sake is the goal, then the state's many <a href="https://www.publicschoolsfirstnc.org/resources/fact-sheets/the-facts-on-rural-schools/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">rural school districts</a>—where schools are often few and far between, and parents don't have the wherewithal for private school or homeschooling—seem much more in need of new state-supported education options.Another reason the choice for choice's sake argument seems especially misapplied to Wake County is that the district already offers more choices than are typical of most school districts....<div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></div></div><div>=</div><div><a href="https://www.facingsouth.org/2017/08/north-carolina-first-enact-controversial-model-bill-sanctioning-campus-protesters">https://www.facingsouth.org/2017/08/north-carolina-first-enact-controversial-model-bill-sanctioning-campus-protesters</a></div><div>
</div><div><div class="article-body" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding-bottom: 60px;"><div class="field-body" style="box-sizing: border-box;"> Kurtz had high hopes for North Carolina, and it didn't let him down.A conservative commentator and senior fellow at the faith-based <a href="https://eppc.org/about/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Ethics and Public Policy Center</a>, Kurtz co-authored <a href="http://goldwaterinstitute.org/en/work/topics/constitutional-rights/free-speech/campus-free-speech-a-legislative-proposal/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">sample legislation</a> for the Goldwater Institute, an Arizona-based libertarian think tank, to limit protests on college campuses. He was responding to so-called <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/448132/year-shout-down-worse-you-think-campus-free-speech" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">"shout-downs"</a> where protesters have forced controversial speakers visiting colleges to leave the stage (as in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/24/us/middlebury-college-charles-murray-bell-curve.html?_r=0" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">the case</a> of "The Bell Curve" author Charles Murray at Middlebury College in Vermont) or prevented their speaking at all (as <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/01/us/milo-yiannopoulos-berkeley/index.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">happened to</a> conservative political provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos at Berkeley).Writing in the conservative National Review, Kurtz <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/446634/understanding-campus-free-speech-crisis" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">argued</a> that the last few years have seen a rise in incidents involving leftist students emboldened by sympathetic faculty to shut out conservative voices. But some critics say the Goldwater legislation goes beyond limiting student interference, defining punishable protest too broadly to protect student's free speech rights. Others take issue with the bill's expansion of government control over universities, with its provisions requiring them to remain neutral on public controversies and to create a free-speech oversight board.North Carolina has not been the site of any high-profile shout-downs, and in fact the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education — a libertarian group that supports the Goldwater bill — recently rated it as <a href="https://www.thefire.org/is-north-carolina-the-countrys-best-state-for-campus-free-speech/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">the best state</a> for free speech on campus. But back in March, its Republican-controlled General Assembly became <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/444693/dan-forest-and-north-carolinas-restore-campus-free-speech-act" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">the nation's first</a> to bring a version of the Goldwater bill to the floor. [relates to horowitz bill how?]In fact, North Carolina played a special role in the crafting of the proposal. For more than a year before the model bill's release, Kurtz had worked with the office of Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Forest on campus free speech issues. Kurtz <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/444693/dan-forest-and-north-carolinas-restore-campus-free-speech-act" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">says</a> that Forest's team "provided critical early encouragement and support for the approach that eventuated in the Goldwater proposal."The version of the "Restore/Preserve Campus Free Speech" bill filed in the N.C. <a href="https://www.facingsouth.org/ncleg.net/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2017&BillID=HB%20527&submitButton=Go" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">House</a> and <a href="http://ncleg.net/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2017&BillID=S507" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Senate </a>on March 29 resembled the Goldwater Institute's model legislation in that it prevented public universities from disinviting controversial speakers and required them to "strive to remain neutral … on the public policy controversies of the day." The bill also called for the creation of a "Committee on Free Expression" to be elected from the majority-Republican UNC Board of Governors to publish an annual report on the state of free speech on UNC campuses.But it differed from the model in the penalties imposed. Rather than requiring a mandatory one-year suspension or expulsion for students who had twice been found guilty of violations, as Kurtz proposed, the original version of North Carolina's bill charged the state's public universities to develop a range of sanctions that would apply to "protests and demonstrations that infringe upon the rights of others to engage in or listen to expressive activity."Among those supporting the bill were <a href="https://www.carolinajournal.com/news-article/legislation-would-bar-speech-codes-on-unc-campuses/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Jenna Robinson</a>, president of the conservative nonprofit James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal, and <a href="https://www.carolinajournal.com/opinion-article/campuses-should-foster-free-speech/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">John Hood</a>, chair of the John Locke Foundation, a conservative think tank. Both Raleigh-based groups were founded and are funded by North Carolina businessman and Republican mega-donor Art Pope, whose influence network has long <a href="https://www.carolinajournal.com/opinion-article/campuses-should-foster-free-speech/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">criticized UNC</a> for discouraging conservative viewpoints. One of the bill's primary sponsors, Rep. Jonathan Jordan, served as the Locke Foundation's research director in the late 1990s.Concerned about the bill's reach, the North Carolina ACLU <a href="https://www.acluofnorthcarolina.org/en/legislation" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">worked with</a> its sponsors to make sure the final version didn't infringe on anyone's constitutional rights. Amendments were added that scrapped the requirement that universities remain neutral on controversial issues and replaced it with a clause prohibiting them from requiring students or faculty to publicly express a certain political view. And while the bill still requires universities to come up with disciplinary sanctions for those found to have obstructed free speech, it significantly narrowed the definition of which actions are punishable; now, only someone who "disrupts the functioning of the constituent institution or substantially interferes with the protected free expression rights of others" will face disciplinary action. The general counsel for the UNC system <a href="http://www.wral.com/unc-officials-ok-with-revised-free-speech-bill/16662870/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">told</a> the House Committee on Education that these changes had alleviated UNC's "major concerns" about the legislation.The General Assembly passed a final version of the bill in late June and sent it to Gov. Roy Cooper (D). Calling it "much improved," the ACLU did not ask for a veto. But Cooper did receive a <a href="http://ncac.org/press-release/ncac-aaup-urge-nc-governor-to-veto-restore-campus-free-speech-bill" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">joint veto request</a> from the National Coalition Against Censorship and the American Association of University Professors. The groups cited concerns that the Committee on Free Expression, which given the Board of Governors' composition would almost certainly be Republican-dominated, "would inject political considerations into the administration of speech policies and sanctions."The July 30 signing deadline came and went without word from Cooper's office. The legislation had passed both chambers with a veto-proof majority and would likely have become law no matter Cooper's response. By not taking action by the deadline, he allowed the bill to go into effect without taking a public stance.Since Kurtz's model bill was first introduced in North Carolina, it's also been taken up by legislatures in <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/447268/melissa-melendezs-california-campus-free-speech-act-goldwater-proposal" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">California</a>, <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/445018/peter-breens-illinois-campus-free-speech-act-goldwater-proposal" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Illinois</a>, <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/447966/louisiana-succeeds-where-middlebury-failed-goldwater-proposal" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Louisiana</a>, <a href="https://www.alec.org/article/why-conservative-lawmakers-are-turning-to-free-speech-bills-as-a-fix-for-higher-ed/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Michigan</a>, <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/article/448007/college-free-speech-laws-necessary-not-sufficient" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Tennessee</a>, <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/445112/dave-larocks-virginia-campus-free-speech-resolution-goldwater-proposal" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Virginia</a>, and <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/447260/jesse-kremers-wisconsin-campus-free-speech-act-goldwater-proposal" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Wisconsin</a>.  In Tennessee, the legislature passed a proposal nicknamed the <a href="http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2017/02/09/breitbarts-milo-yiannopolous-inspires-tennessee-free-speech-bill/97690656/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">"Milo bill"</a> that was inspired by the Goldwater legislation but neither specified disciplinary sanctions nor set up an oversight committee — changes significant enough that Kurtz <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/448024/tennessee-campus-free-speech-bill-not-goldwater-based" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">said</a> the measure was "not primarily Goldwater based."The Virginia House <a href="https://legiscan.com/VA/text/HR431/id/1524509" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">passed a resolution</a> that was inspired by Kurtz's bill but was significantly altered. For example, the Virginia legislation does not mandate disciplinary sanctions, instead merely asserting that it is "not proper" for public universities to shield students from offensive speech.In Louisiana, a version of the bill that Kurtz <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/447966/louisiana-succeeds-where-middlebury-failed-goldwater-proposal" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">supported</a> passed the state House and Senate with bipartisan support but was vetoed by Gov. John Bel Edwards (D), who <a href="http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1052479" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">said</a> it was a "solution in search of a problem" and "would only frustrate the goals it purports to achieve." While the procedures required for an override make it unlikely, Rep. Lance Harris (R) <a href="https://www.lexisnexis.com/communities/state-net/b/capitol-journal/archive/2017/06/30/edwards-vetoes-la-campus-speech-bill.aspx" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">said</a> he plans to reintroduce the bill in Louisiana's next legislative session.When the North Carolina bill became law this week, Kurtz celebrated what he called the first enactment of his proposal — and suggested that its departures from the model could be reversed down the road."We are at the beginning of a new state-legislative era, and that beginning is auspicious," he <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/450027/north-carolina-campus-free-speech-act-goldwater-proposal" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">wrote</a>. "The North Carolina Restore Campus Free Speech Act accomplishes the lion's share of what the Goldwater model proposed, including important steps forward on discipline for shout-downs. Goldwater-based bills are under consideration in several states, with more likely to follow next year. And any state bill can be strengthened in a second legislative round if universities continue to abuse their powers.</div></div></div>