Tag: Berger

Back to charters

June 7, 2011 at 9:49 amCategory:Uncategorized

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The state budget is still front and center on Jones Street in Raleigh, but some of the battles of weeks past are making their way back into the legislature.

The GOP leader in the state, Phil Berger Jr., said in this morning’s weekly press conference that he expects to see a conference committee report out soon about charter schools, one of the many contentious pieces of legislation this session.

The bill, Senate Bill 8, included initial language that would allow charters greater access to public funds and move oversight outside of the N.C. Department of Public Instruction.

But in the end, it looks as if the bill will limit itself to liftingthe 100-school cap the state has on public charter schools.

“I suspect that it will be more lifting the cap and less of some of the other things,” Berger said.

That will surely come as a relief to the many opponents of this session’s charter school legislation, who warned that the existing language  in Senate Bill 8 and the companion bill in the House could eventually defund the state’s public schools and creating a separate, elite educational system.

Berger: Fix for the unemployed not coming until July

May 24, 2011 at 11:39 amCategory:Uncategorized

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The  42,000 to 45,000 North Carolinians cut off from  their extended unemployment benefits since April 16 will have to wait longer, if GOP Senate Leader Phil Berger’s move to fix the stalemate is hinged to the state budget process.

Berger, in a press conference this morning, said the restoring the benefits (which are funded solely through federal sources) would have to wait and become part of the new state budget, which is supposed to take effect on July 1 if it manages to pass it time.

“Whenever it is approved, it will be retroactive,” he said.

But that comes as thousands of the jobless are juggling the sudden lack of money coming in, and are facing evictions, foreclosures or going without food, medicine and electricity. (Go here to see an update on a Charlotte woman who is facing eviction, or go to www.ncpolicywatch.com/jobless for all of our coverage on the standoff.)

The state legislature initially had to approve a formula change in April in order to keep the benefits continuing to flow to workers, a routine measure that would normally take up a day’s time and many states passed without any problems.  But instead of doing that, GOP leaders in the legislator linked the approval to the state budget and would have forced Gov. Bev Perdue to agree to a budget with deep cuts to education and other state agencies. Perdue vetoed the measure, saying that it irresponsibly put the lives of the jobless in the middle of a political fight over the state budget.

Today, Berger again tried to shift blame to Perdue, a Democrat, when he responded to questions from reporters about why GOP legislators had worked out a recent compromise on the State Health Plan, and not done the same with  restoring the unemployment benefits.

“It’s different because we were able to engage in some level of dialogue in terms of a compromise and we just don’t see where that’s materialized on this issue,” Berger said.

Perdue has repeatedly said she’ll sign a clean bill if she’s given one. Her office is expected to respond to Berger’s comments later today.

Democrats in both the House and Senate have tried to move forward clean bills, but haven’t been able to convince enough Republicans to join them.