Perdue, Bev. Press Release, 2011-05-31, Senate Budget Fails to Protect Public Education

Beverly Eaves Perdue Governor State of North Carolina Office of the Governor 20301 Mail Service Center • Raleigh, NC 27699-0301 May 31, 2011 Contact: Chris Mackey Office: (919) 733-5612 Senate Budget Fails to Protect Public Education Thousands of positions would he eliminated in public schools RALEIGH - When comparing the Governor’s education budget with the Senate education budget there are clear and dramatic differences in priorities from early childhood through higher education. The Senate budget cuts investments in education $561 million more than the Governor’s budget, including $256 million to K-12, $68.9 million to community colleges, and $236 million to the university system. This includes: Early Childhood The Senate budget proposes 20 percent cuts to Smart Start and More at Four, two nationally recognized early childhood programs. These drastic cuts would result in the closing of local partnerships and the elimination of critical education and health programs for at-risk pre-school children. K-12 State Senate leaders proclaim to have fully funded teacher and teacher assistant positions in their budget, but in reality they have passed down a $322 million flex cut to the local school districts which would result in thousands of teacher and teaching assistant layoffs in our public schools, with the impact on the second year of funding to be much worse than the first year. The pass downs also will pull availability from other sections of the budget to reduce education cuts. The Senate budget would drop North Carolina to near last in per-pupil spending.