North Carolina governor Pat McCrory offered details on the 2016-2017 state budget that he is proposing.
“My budget invests dollars where they matter most by spending on key priorities that have the biggest impact on North Carolinians and their families,” McCrory said.
The budget makes an investment in education, giving teachers across the state a five percent pay increase.
It also will establishes a scholarship program by investing $2 million to attract 300 new, highly qualified math and science teachers to earn degrees and teach math and science in the state’s public schools.
“Our top budget priority this session is faculty and staff pay, and we are pleased that the Governor is proposing to invest in recruiting and retaining top faculty and to recognize the contributions of University employees,” said UNC System president Margaret Spellings.
McCrory has also stated he is pushing to get all North Carolina classrooms connected to Wi-Fi by 2018.
Overall, spending will be capped at $22.3 billion dollars, which would be a 2.8 percent increase from this year’s budget.
According to the governor’s office, there are no tax or fee increases in the budget.
“These investments build on our commitment to strengthen education, enhance public safety, improve the health of our citizens, build new roads that connect our communities, all while reforming government to make it more accountable and efficient,” McCrory said.
A full version of the budget is scheduled to be released Wednesday, April 27.
http://chapelboro.com/news/state-government/mccrory-announces-budget-plansCHAPEL HILL- Chapel Hill and Carrboro’s mayoral candidates are running unopposed this year, but they say the real challenges will come from state leaders in Raleigh.
Lydia Lavelle hopes to make the jump from the Carrboro Board of Aldermen to the mayor’s seat, and given that she’s the only candidate, it seems like an easy win. But Lavelle says the actions of the General Assembly are likely to make her job, and that of other local elected officials, much harder in the coming months and years.
“It is going to be a tremendous challenge,” says Lavelle. “Not only the policy and laws that are coming from the General Assembly, but also in terms of financial cutbacks we might get. We have got to be on our guard and be communicating with other towns and counties about this.”
Chapel Hill Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt agrees. As he anticipates his third term, he says reductions in funding from the state could be a major issue.
“It’s going to be a community-wide challenge and it is one that I don’t think is on everybody’s radar at this moment,” says Kleinschmidt. “I hope during this campaign folks will become more aware of these challenges and we can work to address them in this next term.”
Chapel Hill Transit and the Chapel Hill-Carrboro school system have already begun to wrestle with cuts to transportation and school budgets during this past budget season.
Lavelle worries the hands of local governments are being tied by lawmakers in the General Assembly in other ways as well.
“Not only the North Carolina General Assembly, but our Supreme Court seems to be seeking to curtail our authority to really do anything at the local level,” says Lavelle. “I think it is really important that we try to keep a gauge on the different laws that they are trying to pass, to try to speak up when some of the bills they’re debating can affect local government in a way that a lot of the General Assembly doesn’t understand, and that they really wouldn’t want their town and their constituents to be faced with.”
The legislative session just ended, and though the full impact of the new laws remains to be seen, there are at least two bright spots for the towns.
Kleinschmidt says Chapel Hill was recently granted the authority to pursue new public/private partnerships outside of the downtown area.
“Famously you know we engaged in a public/private partnership to create 140 West, but our downtown was the only area that we were authorized to do such agreements,” says Kleinschmidt. “Now we have the authority from the General Assembly to do these kinds of projects outside our downtown core.”
And thanks to a bill sponsored by Senator Ellie Kinnaird, the Carrboro Board of Aldermen now has the option of appointing a new member to fill a vacancy, instead of holding a special election.
Passage of Senate Bill 128 is especially relevant now, as Lavelle has two years left in her term on the board. When she’s sworn in as Carrboro’s new mayor in December, aldermen will likely begin the process of filling her seat by appointment.
http://chapelboro.com/news/local-government/state-budget-cuts-pose-challenge-for-mayoral-candidatesPhoto by Doug Wilson.
CHAPEL HILL- The Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools board unanimously adopted a new budget Thursday, after administrators dropped a plan to reduce the number of gifted education specialists at each elementary school.
Instead, the district will forgo hiring new middle school literacy coaches and skip a one-time bonus for school employees.
The reductions will allow school officials to set aside nearly $870,000 to fill teaching assistant positions that state budget proposals do not cover.
Assistant Superintendent Todd LoFrese said the district is still waiting on final numbers from the General Assembly.
“If the reductions are less than $870,000 then the board could consider re-appropriating that funding for different priorities, or if they are greater, then we would have to look at additional reductions,” Lofrese told the board.
If state cuts to education funding total more than the district has set aside, each elementary could lose one teaching assistant.
The board also reserved $40,000 to cover the cost of Driver’s Education, another state-funded program possibly on the chopping block. LoFrese said school officials will spend whatever state money is allocated for Drivers Education before dipping into local funds.
The 2013-2014 budget is balanced using $3.2 million of the district’s reserve funds, but LoFrese told the board that means next budget season the district will start off with a deficit.
“We do not anticipate having this additional funding available next year,” said LoFrese. “We’re starting with what we believe is a $2.2 million dollar hole at the start of the budget development process.”
While the full impact of the state cuts on local schools is still unclear, district leaders could get answers soon, as the North Carolina House and Senate are expected to finalize the state budget next week.
http://chapelboro.com/news/pre-k-12-education/chccs-budget-funds-teaching-assistants-and-gifted-edCHAPEL HILL- As local leaders wait and wait for a final state budget, Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools board members are struggling with how to fill the funding gaps, even before they know exactly what those gaps will be.
The school board came together for an unusual Monday meeting to consider a $1.7 million dollar package of possible reductions at the local level that could help ease the blow of projected cuts to the state education budget.
And while board members agreed that tough choices must be made, the board was split on a plan to cut the number of gifted education specialists down to one at each elementary school.
Jamezetta Bedford said after four years of budget cuts, the reductions might be unavoidable.
“I’m very reluctant, but I don’t know what else to cut,” said Bedford. “Because we have cut athletics, we have cut foreign languages. I don’t know what else to give up.”
The plan would reduce the total number of specialists through attrition and reassignment, saving the district $385,000. But nearly a dozen gifted education teachers and parents of gifted children came out to protest the cuts, saying it would jeopardize an already overburdened program.
Wendy Morgan has a child in the gifted education program at Morris Grove.
“I’m concerned that the creative energies that allow our gifted children to accomplish difficult and impressive feats could easily be overlooked,” said Morgan. “Without the appropriate channels for their gifts, it’s not only possible, but it is likely that many gifted children will become classroom behavior problems.”
Board members argued the size and scope of the gifted program is part of the problem. Citing failures to implement new teaching models and inconsistent implementation from school to school, James Barrett said it’s clear the current model isn’t working.
“We have a demonstrated need for better gifted education,” said Barrett. “What they’re doing today is not better gifted education, and so taking the cut, in some ways, is the shock that’s needed to improve the process.”
Still, some on the board including Michelle Brownstein worried that cutting the staff by a third without revamping the program would leave students underserved.
“We’re not there yet,” said Brownstein. “The best we have right now is our gifted education specialists. I don’t see how the classroom teacher can meet the needs of all the kids in these classrooms without their help.”
Adding to the confusion is the ongoing delay in the state legislature, as next year’s spending plan is tied up in negotiations about a possible tax system overhaul.
Lawmakers passed a continuing resolution to keep the government funded through July 31, but local leaders hope to sign off on a budget next week.
Under the Senate’s proposal, the district could lose as much as $1.3 million in funding for teaching assistants, while the House plan would only cut about $300,000. If the final budget more closely resembles the House plan, administrators might not need to implement the proposed reductions at all.
No votes were taken, but the board gave general approval to a series of less controversial cuts, including delaying the addition of a special education classroom and forgoing a onetime bonus to personnel. Members were less certain about a plan to start charging a fee for driver’s education, pending more information about a waiver system.
The proposed spending cuts will return for a formal vote next Thursday, when school board members plan to approve the final budget, even if the state budget is still in limbo.
http://chapelboro.com/news/pre-k-12-education/chccs-board-eyes-cuts-to-gifted-ed-to-balance-budgetRALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – Gov. Pat McCrory says he’s unsure if he and legislative leaders can agree on a final North Carolina state government budget before the new fiscal year begins in about two weeks.
McCrory told The Associated Press in an interview Monday his goal is still to have a budget he can sign into law by July 1. But McCrory says he has problems with parts of both the House and Senate versions of the two-year spending plan.
Negotiations are expected to begin in earnest after the Senate rejected the House version of the budget Monday night. A conference committee will now work out differences.
McCrory laid out several specific concerns he had with the Senate budget four weeks ago. He hasn’t been as explicit with shortcomings in the House version.
http://chapelboro.com/news/state-government/mccrorys-got-problems-with-house-senate-budgets
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