RALEIGH (October 12, 2023) – There are some good things in the state’s new $30 billion budget. And there’s plenty of bad Gov. Roy Cooper had to accept to win Medicaid expansion. “Make no mistake, overall this is a bad budget that seriously shortchanges our schools, prioritizes power grabs, keeps shady backroom deals secret and… READ MORE
7% over two years? Simply not enough.
RALEIGH (September 22, 2023) – It’s simply not enough. At a time when North Carolina children started school with 3,500 teaching positions vacant and with more than 20% of state jobs vacant,1 state legislators approved a budget today – almost three months late – that provides teachers and state employees raises of 4% this year… READ MORE
Budget highlights – and lowlights
RALEIGH (September 22, 2023) – To win Medicaid expansion he has sought since he was elected, Gov. Roy Cooper agreed to make it contingent on passage of the state budget. So Republican legislators packed a whole lot of policy into the 1,400-page 2023-25 budget for Cooper to swallow. Here are some highlights – and lowlights. … READ MORE
Senate budget: Simply not enough
RALEIGH (May 18, 2023) – It’s simply not enough. The budget proposal released this week by the state Senate is simply not enough to improve public education in North Carolina. There’s an undeniable link between education and a skilled workforce. Yet state legislators don’t seem to get that. At a time when average teacher pay… READ MORE
A pay cut
RALEIGH (July 6, 2022) – With the 2022-23 budget they unveiled and adopted last week, state legislators simply aren’t taking care of their people – our people. The state has a $6.5 billion revenue surplus this year. Let that sink in: $6,524,141,444.00.1 Yet this state continues to systematically underfund public education. By one estimate, the… READ MORE
2021: Return to not quite normal
RALEIGH (December 29, 2021) – 2021 was slightly less chaotic than 2020, with distribution of vaccines that temporarily calmed the coronavirus pandemic before new variants began to emerge. The state also saw its first new budget in three years, with much-needed raises for higher education faculty and staff and generous investments in capital projects. It’s… READ MORE
Guskiewicz: Steering a $3B engine for NC
Each fall, UNC Chapel Hill Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz co-teaches a seminar for graduate students – professors of the future – called ‘The American Professoriate.’ The class focuses on the role of public universities. This year, he teaches with Matt Springer and Buck Goldstein from the School of Education and Dean Suzanne Barbour of the Graduate… READ MORE
NC budget: ‘A remarkable start on a new era’
RALEIGH (November 18, 2021) – For the first time in three years, it looks like North Carolina will have a budget for 2021-23. After extended negotiations between Gov. Roy Cooper, Senate President Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore, the General Assembly is voting this week on a plan that would spend $25.9 billion in… READ MORE
Project Kitty Hawk takes flight
RALEIGH (November 17, 2021) – UNC System leaders have launched an ambitious effort called Project Kitty Hawk to use online offerings to reach adult learners in North Carolina. The state budget released this week includes $97 million for the project, which involves creating a nonprofit organization that would provide a platform to offer online programs.1… READ MORE
Leandro: A quarter-century of bickering
RALEIGH (November 15, 2021) – Robb Leandro was an 8th-grader at West Hoke Middle School in 1994, when the lawsuit over funding for poor North Carolina school districts that bears his name was filed. Twenty-seven years later, he’s 42 years old, with a family and children of his own, and practices law in Raleigh.1 Burley… READ MORE