Budget keeps TAs, but critics say education still underfunded
Historic preserva
tion and film
credits return and
a new service tax
is added after long
legislative battles
BY TODD LUCK
THE CHRONICLE
On Friday, Gov. Pat
McCrory signed the $21.7
billion state budget long
after its initial July 1 dead
line.
"Now we can work
together to implement a
common-sense vision for
our great state that includes
job creation, education,
healthcare and transporta
tion," McCrory said in a
release.
The release also said
the budget invests in addi
tional textbooks and digital
resources and funded an
initiative to bring broad
band access to all schools.
Teacher assistants, who
would've been laid off by
the thousands in the Senate
version of the budget, all
got to keep their jobs.
Teachers and state employ
ees will receive a one-time
$750 bonus. Beginning
teachers retain a $2,000
salary raise from a stopgap
spending measure that kept
the state funded after the
budget deadline.
But critics of the budg
et say that it continues to
underfund education,
spending less per pupil
than in 2008, and does little
to solve the teacher short
age as teachers continue to
go to other states or leave
the profession. North
Carolina is 42nd in the
country in teacher pay and
46th in per-pupil expendi
tures.
Forsyth County
Association of Educators
President Ronda Gordon
said while she was grateful
for teachers assistants were
kept, the bonus just isn't
enough, especially after
taxes. She said that there
should have rather been an
across-the-board pay raise,
which the House version
had for state employees, to
help retain teachers. She
said underfunding of
schools is causing textbook
shortages. She felt the
budget shouldn't have
increased school voucher
funding, which helps stu
dents pay for private
school, by $14 million over
two years when there's so
much need in public
schools.
"It's not addressing the
need for our children and
our public system,"
Gordon said about the
budget.
The majority of Senate
Democrats voted against
the budget, including N.C.
Sen. Paul Lowe, who rep
resents District 32. He said
he voted against it because
of what he considered inad
equate education funding.
He also objected to a new
tax on services, such as
automobile repairs, which
he said will be felt by
lower- and middle-income
taxpayers.
"The budget doesn't
help to improve education
and puts a greater hardship
on working people," said
Lowe.
The money generated
from the service tax goes to
rural counties whose resi
dents pay more in sales
taxes then their local gov
ernments collect and pre
vents the "sales tax shift,"
which would've taken state
money from urban counties
and given them to rural
ones, a move that many
city leaders and McCrory
opposed.
The majority of House
Democrats also voted
against the budget, includ
ing Rep. Ed Hanes, who
represents District 72.
Hanes had some input as
one of many vice chairs on
the conference committee
responsible for the final
budget, but said only a
handful of lawmakers got
to make decisions on it.
Hanes echoed Lowe's
objections to the level of
education funding and put
ting a tax burden on lower
income taxpayers.
"Even though we did
get life-saving legislation
put in the budget for body
cameras and dash board
cams and unauthorized use
of force training, it was still
something that I didn't feel
at this point I could sup
port," he said.
Hanes said the months
long delay was a result in
the radical difference
between the House version
of the budget, which had
more spending and biparti
san support, and the Senate
version, which drastically
cut that spending and was
supported by Republicans.
He said particularly
contemptuous issues like
Medicaid reform and the
state bond where put into
separate bills. Medicaid
reform is a compromise
between the Senate ver
sion, whose plan would've
relied on for-profit man
aged care insurers, and the
House version, which
relied on provider-led
groups headed by hospitals
and physicians groups. The
final bill, which has both
McCory
Hants
Lowe
?Keeps all teachers assistants
?Gives state employees, including teachers, a
$750 bonus
Taxes services like automobile repair
?Fully restores medical expense deduction
?Restores the historic preservation tax credit
?Spends $30 million to restore the film
production tax credit
managed care and
provider-led entities, was
approved by the House and
Senate on Tuesday.
The Connect NC Bond
funds numerous infrastruc
ture projects for places like
community colleges and
national guard facilities.
The University of North
Carolina system would get
$921 million for projects
like a $52 million new sci
ence building at Winston
Salem State University and
a $97 million new engi
neering building at N.C.
A&T State University. The
version the House
approved is $2.85 billion
including $400 million for
transportation projects and
would be on the primary
ballot. The Senate version
introduced Monday is $2
billion with no road proj
ects would would be on the
ballot in the General
Election.
Also in the budget was
$30 million for the film
production credit, which
expired at the end of 2014
and had been replaced with
a grant program worth $10
million in rebates. The
expired historic tax credit
is back in a smaller form
with a 15 percent tax credit
for qualified expenditures
of up to $10 million and 10
percent for qualified
expenditures that are $10
million to $20 million, and
15 percent for expenditures
between $10,000 and
$22,500 for non-income
producing structures.
There's also a slight
reduction in the individual
income tax rate and an
expansion of the standard
deduction. It also restores
deductions for medical
expenses with no spending
cap and raises pay for
prison guards.
Gordon
Stein launches campaign
for attorney general
BY TOM FOREMAN JR.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
State Sen. Josh Stein, a
former deputy to North
Carolina Attorney General
Roy Cooper, made appear
ances in some of the state's
larger cities on Monday,
Sept. 21, as he officially
launched his bid to succeed
his old boss.
Stein appeared in
Winston-Salem, the second
of his four stops after
beginning the day in
Charlotte. Stops are also
planned in Greensboro and
Raleigh.
Stein said he wanted to
protect families by crack
ing down on violent crime
and protect taxpayers by
stamping out Medicaid
fraud.
"As attorney general,
I'll stand up for people who
work hard and play by the
rules, and I will take on
politicians and big corpo
rations when they don't
because no one is above
the law," Stein said.
The Democrat initially
told supporters Sunday,
Sept. 20, of his decision to
run for attorney general
and launched his cam
paign's website. Stein said
earlier he was considering
a 2016 ran for attorney
general if Cooper did not
seek re-election. Cooper is
planning a bid to unseat
Republican Gov. Pat
McCrory.
Another likely cam
paign target is gay mar
riage and the effort by the
Republican-led legislature
to ban it. Cooper was criti
cized for refusing to
defend the state's position
before the U.S. Supreme
Court ruling, which
affirmed same-sex mar
riage.
Stein said he would
defend the state on law
with which he might per
sonally disagree unless
those laws are deemed
unconstitutional.
Stein, 49, grew up in
Chapel Hill, the son of a
civil rights lawyer. He
graduated from Dartmouth
College and Harvard Law
School and briefly worked
as a teacher in Zimbabwe.
Statehouse reporter
Gary D. Robertson in
Raleigh contributed to this
report.
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