The General Assembly passed a stop-gap spending measure Tuesday. The bill keeps the government funded until mid-August while the chambers grapple over the final budget. But the measure does nothing to ease the concerns of 8,500 teacher assistants whose jobs are now in limbo.
North Carolina teacher assistant Melinda Zarate has spent the last several summers on edge.
“It’s just very nerve-wracking,” Zarate told reporters. “Imagine not knowing whether you were going to have a job in a couple months. And yeah, that happens in business too. But for teacher assistants, this happens every single year.”
The Legislature has made frequent cuts to teacher assistant positions since the 2008 recession. This year, despite a budget surplus, the Senate’s budget proposes axing another 8,500 teacher assistants. That would leave schools with less than a third of the teacher assistants they had before the recession. Those cuts don’t sit well with Lisa Caley, a parent of a child with special learning needs.
“Our public schools today are focused on educating every student, and TAs are working to provide the individualized instruction to make that happen,” Caley said. “That means they’re assisting with kids who need remediation, with students who are on grade level and students who are above grade level, to make sure that lessons are differentiated to meet all students’ needs.”
Teacher assistants and their advocates argue their instruction is needed in today’s classrooms.
“Things have become so individualized in our schools, that we don’t do a lot of whole-class instruction—teachers standing in front of a group of kids just delivering trying to fill their heads,” Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Superintendent Tom Forcella said. “It’s more about breaking kids up into small collaborative groups.”
Senators who support the cuts say reducing the number of teacher assistants will allow the state to hire more teachers and raise teachers’ starting salaries. The House’s budget also proposes raising teacher salaries, but it does not cut assistants. Todd LoFrese, Assistant Superintendent for Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, says his district is eagerly awaiting a final budget.
“We’re going to have to take a good look as we develop our budgets if teacher assistants are reduced at the state level again: What are our options? Do we have any options, because those are really big numbers that they’re talking about making in the Senate budget,” LoFrese said.
The two chambers have until August 14 before stop-gap funding expires. In the meantime, thousands of teacher assistants can only guess whether they’ll return to the classroom in the fall.
http://chapelboro.com/news/pre-k-12-education/thousands-of-nc-teacher-assistants-in-limboFor decades, area schools have been battling an achievement gap problem.
At Thursday’s Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board meeting, some said the 2015-16 budget should put more money into narrowing achievement gaps between groups of students – for example between white and black students.
Greg McElveen, chair of the NAACP Education Committee, spoke during public comment periods to suggest ways the district could reallocate funds to help students who lag in academic performance. He said the board should look at how the district funds school resource officers (SROs).
“We believe that given these tight times . . . perhaps we don’t need SROs in middle school,” said McElveen.
He said violence is rare in area middle schools, and rather than increasing payments for SRO services by $100,000 as proposed, the district could find other ways to ensure the safety of students.
School officials will look at data on how SROs are used in middle schools and whether SROs need to be in school buildings all day.
Board member Michelle Brownstein expressed concern about removing SROs from schools.
“We have set up what we’re doing now, in terms of crisis management, with them being there,” said Brownstein. “So if they’re not there, we have to make sure our principals, our admin and our teachers have what they need” to keep students safe.
According to Board Chair Mike Kelley, only half of the Chapel Hill and Carrboro schools have SROs.
School officials said the district is using strategies from Max Thompson, project director of Learning-Focused, to help increase student achievement.
Along with other specific requests, McElveen said the board should study initiatives that have been effective at supporting under-served students, such as supplemental math instruction. Then the district should implement those effective programs widely.
You can view the superintendent’s recommended budget here.
Upcoming budget calendar dates from CHCCS:
April 16 – Budget discussion and approval of budget to be submitted to the county
April 20 – Submit Board’s budget request to the county
April 28 – Joint meeting of school boards for budget presentations to the county
At Tuesday’s meeting, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools board looked at the superintendent’s recommended local budget for 2015-16.
This initial proposed budget totals $73 million. Once board members hash out the details, they will request funds from Orange County commissioners. The proposed budget will require a 3 cent property tax increase.
School officials are calculating a local budget while taking into account the state budget, the final version of which is yet to be determined.
The state projects enrollment decreasing by 150 students next year. This means the district will lose at least half a million dollars in funding.
The proposed local budget for next year is about $4 million more than the current year’s budget. Federal and state mandates account for some of this difference. For example, under Gov. Pat McCrory’s budget proposal, minimum teacher pay would rise 6 percent to $35,000.
“Generally the state provides funding for classroom teachers and a few instructional support type positions, like a guidance councilor or media specialist,” said Assistant Superintendent Todd LoFrese in an interview after the meeting.
Local dollars will have to meet these minimum salary mandates for other types of school employees.
“We have other positions in our schools: literacy coaches, math coaches, and technology facilitators,” said LoFrese. “Positions like that – that aren’t funded by the state, but we feel are critical for our success – we fund locally.”
School officials will likely ask county commissioners to help pay for more charter school students and home-schooled children who enroll in North Carolina’s first virtual charter schools.
Here are upcoming budget calendar dates from CHCCS:
March 19 – Public Hearing and budget work session
April 16 – Budget discussion and approval of budget to be submitted to the County
April 20 – Submit Board’s budget request to County
April 28 – Joint meeting of school boards for budget presentations to County
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Highlights of Gov. Pat McCrory’s $21.5 billion spending plan released Thursday for the 2015-16 fiscal year. Unless otherwise noted, the dollars amounts are for the 2015-16 year only. For spending changes, figures are for amount spent or saved compared to what was projected or needed to keep operating at current levels.
PUBLIC EDUCATION:
— locate $111 million to increase the floor for early-career teacher salaries from $33,000 to $35,000 and to give experienced-based raises.
— hire 1,400 new teachers to cover expected public school enrollment growth of more than 17,300 students next fall.
— give $15 million over next two years to new endowment designed to award teachers additional pay for improved student performance.
— increase textbook and instructional materials funding by $35 million, with more flexibility to local districts on how to spend it.
— reduce the Department of Public Instruction budget by 10 percent, or $4.1 million.
— save $3 million in community college system to reflect decreased enrollment by 1.6 percent.
— increase community college tuition by $4 per credit hour, collecting $16.1 million.
— give $49.3 million to University of North Carolina system to meet projected 1.7 percent enrollment growth.
— provide $8 million in operating funds for East Carolina University’s medical school.
— implement 2 percent efficiencies within the UNC system, or $49.9 million in savings.
HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES:
— locate $18 million for operations, modernization and maintenance of NC FAST and NC TRACKS computer programs.
— expand permanently the number of slots for North Carolina Pre-K program for 4-year-olds to 26,800, at a cost of $2.3 million.
— spend $5.3 million over two years to modernize Office of Chief Medical Examiner.
— develop electronic death records system, at a cost of $1.9 million over two years.
— increase foster care funds by $4.5 million to reflect higher caseload volume.
— require $287 million in additional Medicaid funds to reflect higher enrollment and patient costs.
— lay groundwork for potential Accountable Care Organizations designed to treat Medicaid patients, costing $1.2 million.
— reduce personal services contracts by $1.2 million.
— spend $16.6 million to help open new Broughton mental hospital in Broughton in 2016.
— eliminate $8.5 million carry-over of liabilities from mental health facilities.
COMMERCE AND TAXES:
— give $10 million more to a new film and TV production grant program that replaced a tax credit program that was allowed to expire last year.
— allocate $33.5 million more to the Job Development Investment Grant, Job Maintenance and Capital Development Fund and One North Carolina Small Business economic incentives programs.
— restore the state’s Historic Preservation Tax Credit for repairing old buildings. The credit was allowed to expire last year.
— extend various current tax credits or refunds related to research and development, renewable energy for non-solar projects and for jet fuel.
— calculates road building revenues based on 35-cent per gallon motor fuels tax.
COURTS, PRISONS AND LAW ENFORCEMENT:
— provide $16 million over two years to restore court funding to pay for jurors, interpreters, expert witnesses and equipment.
— increase payments for private indigent defense lawyers by $3.2 million.
— create six lab technician positions at State Crime Laboratory for $251,000 to help reduce criminal case backlog.
— give 5 percent pay raises to 700 state troopers, at a cost of $1.8 million.
— replace 75 aging State Bureau of Investigation and Alcohol Law Enforcement vehicles for $1.9 million.
— begin process of reclassifying correctional officers and raise pay, with salaries increasing beginning in mid-2016.
— create 181 positions to improve mental health services for prisons, at a cost of $6.4 million.
TRANSPORTATION
— give $19.6 million from Highway Fund for general road maintenance reserve.
— complete modernization of Division of Motor Vehicles statewide automated driver license system.
— provide $58 million more to carry out state Department of Transportation’s new 10-year road-building plan.
OTHER STATE AGENCIES:
— locate 2 percent cut in Governor’s Office, or $110,000.
— add portfolio manager’s position in State Treasurer’s Office, costing $176,000.
— create new Cabinet-level Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Information Technology from existing programs.
— shift state parks, Museum of Natural Sciences, state aquariums and N.C. Zoological Park from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to the Department of Cultural Resources.
— privatize state motor pool for short-term vehicle rental services.
RESERVES, OTHER PLANS:
— place another $47 million in the state’s rainy day reserve fund, increasing it to $698 million.
— earmark $175 million over two years in a Medicaid risk reserve that could be tapped to cover potential shortfalls.
— set aside $82 million over two years for salary fund for pay increases in hard-to-find and hard-to-retain positions.
— increase reserve for health insurance plan for public employee by $34 million.
— McCrory will propose two bonds: one for transportation projects and a second for government building repairs and renovations. Each one will range from $1.2 billion to $1.4 billion.
UNC System President Tom Ross issued the following statement regarding Governor McCrory’s proposed budget:
Chapel Hill leaders are looking for innovative solutions to address some of the major challenges facing the town.
At last weekend’s planning retreat, the Town Council tried a different tactic to brainstorm new ways to tackle transit funding, town infrastructure and the need for affordable housing.
“I think one of the key takeaways from this retreat is that nothing was off the table,” says George Cianciolo, one of the council members who helped plan the event.
The all-day meeting was modeled after the free-ranging discussions that typified the Chapel Hill 2020 process. Council members met in small groups to trade ideas, a departure from the formal presentations that are the hallmark of local government.
Cianciolo says when it comes to the need for more affordable housing, town leaders are looking to balance social goals with market forces.
The plan to partner with the nonprofit DHIC to build affordable rentals on town-owned land is one example of how public-private partnerships can help the town leverage its assets.
“We’re looking at more public-private partnerships,” says Cianciolo. “We’ve been looking at some of our other assets and we talked about potentially that we could buy some land for another public-private partnership. Another [idea] was perhaps trading some of our assets to a developer who would be willing to do affordable housing.”
Chapel Hill Transit is facing a funding crunch even as demand for service continues to rise. One possible solution might be to charge riders for new routes or hours while keeping the core service fare-free.
“What would happen if we were to have fare cards that were used after, say, seven or eight o’clock at night?” asked Cianciolo. “Would that allow us to provide some service to some of the areas that are not served now?”
The need to replace the police station, repave roads and improve infrastructure also loomed large as a challenge for town leaders. Items like a new teen center rank high as priorities.
“Everyone agreed that a teen center downtown would not only be nice to have, but it would be important to have, because that’s a vulnerable population,” says Cianciolo. “And so that’s something that would be high on a list.”
The planning retreat was intended as a way to get a wide range of options on the table for future discussion. Ultimately, Cianciolo says to accomplish the many goals of the 2020 plan, Chapel Hill will need some novel ideas.
“You have a lot of things you’d like to do, and how many we can get to is partly going to be dependent on how creative we can get.”
No formal decisions were made at the retreat, but some of the concepts could be explored further during the upcoming budget negotiations this spring.
http://chapelboro.com/news/local-government/town-council-looks-creative-solutions-chapel-hills-challengesThe Board of Alderman is setting up for a very busy 2015 with their first meeting of the new year, on Tuesday night. There are several large agenda items for leaders of the Town of Carrboro.
Mayor Lydia Lavelle says she is expecting to see new developments concerning the Martin Luther King Jr. Park Master Plan.
“I do think citizens that are interested in the Martin Luther King Jr. Park will be interested in seeing what kinds of proposals are being made,” she says. “A couple of concept designs are going to be coming forward to us, after some community gatherings where we received a lot of input.”
The board will also be presented with information regarding the state of the transit system and suggestions to increase sustainability going forward.
“Every year [the transit system] is a huge project to grapple our hands around,” she says. “It’s one of the hallmarks of our community, but it is one that continues to increase in costs.”
The presentation is expected to be very similar to the arrangement brought before the Chapel Hill Town Council, last week.
The transit system is a large budget item, according to Mayor Lavelle, but she says there are several other key areas in building a new budget this year.
She says certain town costs are guaranteed to increase.
“We always have rising health care costs,” she says. “It’s always a given that, whatever our line item is for our employees and health care, that’s always going to go up a little.”
Lavelle says it will be important to see how much revenue the town is able to bring in during tax collection.
“In general, property taxes have stayed the same or gotten better,” she says. “With the hotel and different things, our commercial tax base should look pretty good.”
The mayor adds town leaders typically offer a conservative sales tax estimate, which could lead to additional revenue on top of projections.
The Board of Alderman meeting will be held at the Carrboro Town Hall beginning at 7:30 Tuesday evening and is open to the public.
http://chapelboro.com/news/local-government/carrboro-town-leaders-ready-first-meeting-2015
Representatives from various UNC-Chapel Hill centers and institutes made presentations to the UNC Board of Governors Thursday in order to retain their state funding in the face of budget cuts – or just to remain alive.
Amidst a crowded room at the Spangler Center Thursday morning, the Board listened to speakers like Christi Hurt of the UNC Women’s Center, who spoke about having only one staffer who works directly with sexual assault victims.
“We truly do need a whole lot more,” she told Board Chair John Fennebresque (who asked, “Don’t you need a hundred?”). “The rest of the Women’s Center staff is trained to provide support, and we also do the work of the prevention efforts throughout the whole center…so the program itself isn’t isolated in one person, but she’s (the only one who is) distinctly trained to provide one-on-one advocacy support.”
The weeklong meetings arose after the state legislature paved the way for $15 million in cuts in last year’s budget.
Another group facing elimination is the Sonya Haynes Center for Black Culture. Director Joseph Jordan reminded the board that the center was created in 1988 from $9 million raised exclusively in private funds.
“It was created at the urging of concerned students, faculty, community and alumni as a center for the arts and cultures of African-Americans and as a site for campus and community service programming,” Jordan said. “In the 26 years since its creation, it has grown to become a major and unique resource for the university and the regional communities.”
UNC Chancellor Carol Folt reiterated that 51 percent of state funding has already been cut since 2009, which has prompted the university to become more aggressive in fundraising.
She said centers like the ones being discussed Thursday were crucial to those fundraising efforts.
“We’re getting ready to go to a multi-billion-dollar campaign – and one of the best ways you do that (is) to raise money for a center, not an office,” she told the Board. “The Stone Center is a vehicle for raising funds – and we are just in the process in developing that whole strategy, and they will be getting support, as will the Women’s Center…
“(These) are big draws for people that like to give to a named place.”
Groups under review may be terminated, lose state funding or could continue operating as it is. Thirty-four groups are under review at 11 UNC system universities.
Numerous students were also in attendance at Thursday’s meeting, carrying signs and wearing black tape over their mouths to protest the threat of funding cuts.
http://chapelboro.com/news/unc/cuts-possibly-looming-unc-centers-state-casesAdditional reporting by Elizabeth Friend
Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools board members gather Thursday night to vote on the upcoming year’s budget.
The district’s website projected posting the budget proposal late last week, but due to the delay by the North Carolina Legislature on its budget decisions, the district pushed the release date to Monday. However, the proposal, which has one hour of the nearly four-hour meeting set aside for it, wasn’t posted to the district’s website until Tuesday morning.
Many concerns swirled around the General Assembly’s budget as teaching assistants were in danger of losing their jobs. Last year, in response to state budget cuts, CHCCS hired new teaching assistants on one-year contracts that the district paid for using reserve funds. School officials said the district ran out of the reserve funds to cover the shortfall, and they waited to see what, if anything, the state would do to help pay for teaching assistants.
With the passage of the $21.1 billion state budget, teaching assistants should be safe. However, some teachers aren’t happy with the final numbers.
Though some called the new budget “historic” for putting $282 million towards education, some educators themselves have criticized the new teacher pay plan.
That’s because longevity pay, the bonus once awarded to teachers with more than ten years of experience is no longer guaranteed. Instead, the new plan caps teacher salaries at $50,000 for those with more than 25 years in the classroom and rolls longevity pay into the base salaries.
This has some long-term teachers estimating their raises at closer to 2-4 percent, while starting teachers will receive a seven-percent boost. Those with half a decade of experience could see as much as an 18-percent increase.
http://chapelboro.com/news/pre-k-12-education/chccs-still-working-budgetAdditional reporting by Elizabeth Friend
Tom Ross
UNC System President Tom Ross praised the North Carolina General Assembly for it’s attention to higher education with the signing of the 2014-15 budget, signed into law Thursday morning by Governor Pat McCrory. The reception wasn’t as rosy on the Pre-K-through-12 level.
President Ross released a statement shortly after the passage, reading, in part: “There is a lot to appreciate in this budget, including the first new investment by the General Assembly for parts of our strategic directions initiative and the support of the New Teacher Support Program.”
“We continue to focus on our responsibility to produce a well-equipped talent force for our businesses and our communities,” President Ross said. “Highly talented faculty and staff are critical to these efforts. As other states continue to reinvest in higher education, our ability to recruit and retain the best faculty and staff will only get more challenging. We look forward to working with the Governor and the General Assembly next session to address the issues that will hinder our State’s future competitiveness.”
The New Teacher Support Program’s goal is to cater to each young educators individual needs in order to make sure they are on the path to success.
Despite an average of seven-percent increase to teachers’ salaries in primary education, there are still concerns among educators.
Longevity pay, the bonus once awarded to teachers with more than ten years of experience is no longer guaranteed. Instead, the new plan caps teacher salaries at $50,000 for those with more than 25 years in the classroom and rolls longevity pay into the base salaries.
This has some long-term teachers estimating their raises at closer to 2-4 percent, while starting teachers will receive a seven-percent boost and those with half a decade of experience could see as much as an 18 percent increase.
Rep. Graig Meyer (D, Orange-Durham)
Representative Graig Meyer of Orange and Durham counties told WCHL Wednesday, after the announcement of Budget Director Art Pope’s resignation, that he’s also concerned about future budget decisions because there is now an $800,000 to $1 billion deficit that will have to be accounted for during 2015-16 budget talks.
http://chapelboro.com/news/state-government/unc-system-president-praises-gas-work-budgetRALEIGH – Common Core curriculum standards for North Carolina schools will be rewritten under a bill signed into law by Gov. Pat McCrory.
Gov. McCrory signed the bill Tuesday along with four others. He said the Common Core bill does not officially repeal the federal standards but will review and improve them.
North Carolina is now one of five states that have changed or removed the Common Core standards from schools and are creating new state-specific ones.
The law directs the State Board of Education to rewrite the Common Core standards for the North Carolina’s K-12 schools. A new 11-member standards advisory commission will be formed to make curriculum recommendations to the board. Common Core, which schools began testing two years ago, would remain in place until the new standards are completed.
http://chapelboro.com/news/pre-k-12-education/gov-mccrory-signs-common-core-changes-law
Who's Talking with DG Martin 65.8°F |
| Today: 79°F / 67°F |  |
| Tomorrow | Saturday | Sunday |
 |  | |
| 81° / 62° | 82° / 62° | 83° / 62° |
