Both chambers of the N.C. General Assembly are set to reconcile their respective budget proposals as legislators attempt to allocate strained resources among competing interests.
The House version of the budget would cut $200 million more than the Senate version.
In a meeting Tuesday, the N.C. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Education Appropriations proposed a 3.3 percent cut to funding for the state’s K-12 schools. That’s a larger decrease than those proposed by both Gov. Bev Perdue and the N.C. Senate.
N.C. House reconciles 2010-11 budget:
- The N.C. Senate voted last week to spare the worst of the education cuts, instead limiting medical services.
- The N.C. House is hoping to cut $200 million more than the Senate version in negotiations this week.
- The N.C. House is debating increasing K-12 charter schools and using $90 million in lottery funds to hire additional K-12 teachers.
- The N.C. House is debating eliminating the tuition discount for UNC student-athletes, saving $9.4 million.
The House also proposed a cut of more than 4 percent to the UNC-system budget. Both Perdue’s and the Senate’s proposals involved less severe cuts to the system.
While education interests compete with health care services and law enforcement for funding, there is not enough money to go around, said N.C. Sen. Tony Foriest, D-Alamance, co-chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Education.
“I don’t like to view it as winners and losers,” he said. “In this tough economic situation, everyone loses.”
The current budget cuts are part of a larger state budget adjustment for the 2010-11 fiscal year. The General Assembly approved the original 2009-11 budget last year.
A combination of inflation, rising population and demand for continuing education has strained the state’s resources, he said.
Currently, almost 60 percent of the state’s general fund is designated for education spending. And it is all a matter of how much bang the state can get for each buck it spends, Foriest said.
Spending on the community college system has the most immediate impact on job growth, he said, so legislators are disinclined to decrease its funding, while the state will have to wait longer to see economic returns from spending on the university and public school systems.
But not everyone is happy with the state’s funding priorities.
The House Appropriations Committee held a public hearing on N.C. State’s campus in Raleigh on Monday night to address concerns with the budget proposal.
Individuals and groups from across the state attended the meeting to protest cuts to particularly vulnerable programs and job areas; the bulk of public comments addressed concern for programs serving the disabled and mentally ill.
Jeri Bates of Winston-Salem, who attended the hearing on behalf of the North Carolina Speech, Hearing and Language Association, said she wanted to urge the legislature to keep skilled services, such as those provided by speech pathologists, in the budget.
She said her group came to the hearing to ask the House not to cut provider rates for important medical services.
JoCarolyn Wilkins of Greensboro and Donna Hines of Wake County, both classified state employees, also attended the hearing.
They said they were concerned about the low pay and few hours available for state workers such as bus drivers, cafeteria workers and clerical workers.
Many of these employees do not make a lot of money to start with, Hines said.
“The full-time employees may lose their benefits,” Wilkins said.
“That’s a major concern there.”
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
