Tag: state budget

Covenant with NC’s Children responds to budget proposal

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May 20, 2013 at 3:37 pmCategory:Uncategorized

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The good people at the Covenant with North Carolina’s Children just released this statement on the Berger budget plan:

Senate budget short-changes NC’s children
Budget would cut funding for early education and K-12 schools and remove cap on class size

RALEIGH – Late Sunday night, Senate budget writers released their 2014-15 budget proposal, which includes deep cuts to education, early care and infant mortality prevention.

“This budget continues the ongoing deterioration of our public school system,” stated Rob Thompson, Executive Director of the Covenant with North Carolina’s Children. “If the Senate is serious about improving student outcomes, then underfunding schools and removing the cap on class size are the last things it should do.”

In addition to deep cuts in K-12 education, the Senate budget appears to cut the Smart Start early education program by 42%.[1] Read More…

Senate leader’s budget “process” flies in the face of his own past complaints

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May 20, 2013 at 11:24 amCategory:Uncategorized

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The leaders of the North Carolina Senate announced their plan to pass a state budget bill this week. Note that I didn’t say a plan to “debate” the budget bill or “gather input” on the budget bill, “hold hearings” on the budget bill or, God forbid, “listen to the public” on the budget bill.

No, what the Senate announced was that the largest, most important bill of the year will be voted on four days after it was first seen late last night. And public input? To paraphrase the Senate leaders: “We don’t need stinkin’ public input!”

Mind you, this is a 413 page bill that deals with myriad topics. It is incredibly complicated and important to our state’s future. And how was it put together? Well no one knows; it was all done in secret.

What we do know is that it will be quickly reviewed in subcommittees this afternoon, passed by the full Appropriations Committee tomorrow and then passed by the full Senate on Wednesday and Thursday. Democrats will probably get to run a few amendments that will either be voted down on party-line votes or ruled out of order.

How’s that for democracy in action? As with so many areas, the folks running the legislature who used to complain mightily when they were in the minority, have now taken secrecy and lack of process to new levels that would have made their predecessors blush. 

Here’s current Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger complaining back in 2008 about Democrats limiting debate on the budget: Read More…

Double-standard in defining poverty could limit educational opportunities for some

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May 14, 2013 at 3:36 pmCategory:NC Budget and Tax Center | Poverty and Policy Matters

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Education is perhaps the most promising public investment for promoting long-term economic prosperity. That’s why providing low-income children access to preschool and providing a high-quality education to all students in North Carolina’s public schools is vital to our state’s future.

Yet, policymakers have introduced education bills that inconsistently define “poverty” and “at-risk” in ways that would reduce access to early learning for low-income 4-year olds and divert needed public school funding to private schools. Read More…

House committee OKs failed idea that would dismantle North Carolina’s key investments

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May 9, 2013 at 3:17 pmCategory:NC Budget and Tax Center

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Earlier this morning, members of the House Committee on Government approved the so-called Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) bill, which is a constitutional measure that would impose a crippling and arbitrary formula to determine how much we spend on key investments. TABOR would force huge, annual cuts to education, public safety, health care, and other key services that support our economy and quality of life.

TABOR is a solution in search of a problem. North Carolina already has a limit on General Fund spending tied to the projected total state personal income. This limit is tied to what North Carolinians can afford and the health of the economy, preventing expenditures from rising rapidly. But unlike TABOR, it allows North Carolina to regain ground lost during the recession so we can avoid permanent damage to our most important assets. TABOR would lock in the extremely low-levels of spending that have resulted from the Great Recession and harmed our schools, roads, and communities and hampered our ability to recover from the economic downturn. Read More…

North Carolina’s revenue forecast confirms the importance of the income tax

April 23, 2013 at 3:11 pmCategory:NC Budget and Tax Center

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The revised revenue forecast released today demonstrates how important the income tax is to our state’s ability to make investments that boost our economy. As legislators begin building the next state budget, they should protect the income tax, not scale it back or eliminate it as some have proposed.

The revenue forecast indicates that tax collections since the beginning of 2013 are on target to pay for critical services included in the Fiscal Year 2012-13 budget, thanks to the revenue generated by the personal income tax. The personal income tax has been the most consistent source of revenue to pay for education, transportation, and public safety in North Carolina, and recovered quickly after the Great Recession, according to the report released today by the non-partisan Fiscal Research Division.

Sales taxes have not rebounded nearly as well because consumer demand continues to be weighed down by economic concerns, including the state’s high unemployment rate. Read More…