State Budget Saves Teachers
By David Young, Chairman, North Carolina Democratic Party
North Carolina Democrats have preserved their commitment to ensure high quality education for every child in the state, even during these tough economic times.
Working together, Gov. Beverly Perdue and Democratic state lawmakers recently approved a $19 billion, two-year spending plan that enabled dozens of school districts to rehire teachers and avoid painful cuts to the classroom. School districts could also tap into federal stimulus money to offset other remaining gaps.
The process wasn’t easy. North Carolina lost significant revenues as a result of the global economic recession, forcing Governor Perdue and Democratic lawmakers to drastically cut spending, while still maintaining essential services. Throughout that process, Governor Perdue kept her focus squarely on education.
The resulting budget called for $990 million in additional revenue that allowed, for example, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School System (CMS) to buy textbooks and reinstate 286 teachers, as well as counselor and secretary positions at local high schools. Gaston County school officials offered jobs to more than 600 teachers whose contracts weren’t renewed earlier this year in anticipation of deeper budget cuts than were actually realized.
Lee County Schools avoided additional teacher layoffs and Dare County rescued an effective pre-kindergarten program from the chopping block as a result of the additional revenue in the state budget. Yancey County school officials restored 15 to 20 teacher positions.
These stories would not have been possible without the leadership of Governor Perdue. She stood alongside our teachers, students, and parents to protect our classrooms and our future. But many of these stories have gotten lost in the chatter of media pundits, vocal special interests, and right-wing organizations who are long on criticism and short on realistic solutions.
Democrats invest for the long-haul. In addition to protecting the classroom, the state budget: fully funds public school enrollment growth; continues our dropout prevention work; helps to transform low-performing schools; and eliminates state-mandated tests not required by the federal government. With federal funds, we were able to maintain per-pupil spending at current levels.
North Carolina has long been at the forefront of public education. It has made us into the great state that we today. In a rapidly changing global economy, we must remain on the cutting edge by continuing our commitment to education. We do that by investing in our people because they have been and will always be North Carolina’s most valuable resource.