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The General Assembly passed a budget, which means that the ritual of lamenting the "inadequate" level of public school funding is in full swing!  Is the K-12 education budget as bad as they say it is?

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CommenTerry

State Board of Education chairman Bill Harrison has a flair for the dramatic.  He called the state budget passed by the General Assembly, "one of the most disappointing pieces of legislation I have seen in my 30 years in education."

Chairman Harrison had two primary grievances.  First, he complained that the budget included "significant education policies that have not been discussed or debated among all stakeholders."  He failed to identify the objectionable policies or slighted stakeholders, so it is difficult to respond to his protest or take it seriously.

Over the last two years, legislative leaders have developed a systematic approach to improving student performance through a renewed focus on developmentally critical years for children.  Last year, the state budget included a sizable appropriation to lower class sizes in grades K-3.  This year, the budget funds elementary school literacy programs designed to strengthen reading instruction.  Like any large-scale change, it will take years to determine if these efforts were a success or a failure.  Be wary of anyone saying otherwise.

In addition, the General Assembly strengthened accountability measures to ensure that all children read at grade level by third-grade.  The centerpiece of this effort is the end of social promotion.  Say it with me — kids who can’t read, won’t proceed.

Broader reforms incorporated into the budget included an A-F system of grading the performance of schools, five days added to the school year, new teacher recruitment and retention programs, and performance pay programs designed and administered by school districts.  With the exception of the school year increase, these reforms will strengthen accountability, improve teacher quality, and return some budgetary control to school districts. 

Harrison may be uncomfortable with these changes, but North Carolinians are not.  Public opinion polls suggest that the reform measures included in the state budget are popular.  In a Civitas Institute poll conducted in January 2012, 58 percent of respondents supported the addition of five instructional days.  A plurality (44 percent) of respondents believed that teachers should be paid on the basis of student performance and a majority wanted to end social promotion.

Chairman Harrison’s second complaint is that the budget did not include enough money for public schools.  Simply put, he is not happy that legislators added only $250 million in recurring funds to the public school budget.  State education leaders wanted triple that amount and a hefty tax increase to pay for it.

Specifically, Harrison believes that the General Assembly had the responsibility of filling the $250 million gap left by the anticipated expiration of the federal Education Jobs Fund, a $10 billion bailout for "big education."  Obviously, Democrats were in charge of the NC General Assembly (and Harrison was chair of the State Board of Education) when the state accepted huge sums of temporary federal dollars and used that one-time money for permanent public school expenditures.  Predictably, both are trying to shift the blame to the Republican majority in the General Assembly, which refuses to cover for the blunders of its predecessors or state education officials.

Harrison also wanted legislators to eliminate the "discretionary reduction," funds that school districts must return to the state. Democratic legislators began incorporating a discretionary reduction in the budget to conceal cuts to public education spending, but these reductions remained relatively small until 2009.  As I pointed out last year, the Democratic majority passed a budget in 2009 that included a $225 million discretionary cut and a $304.8 million reduction the year after.

Recall that state education officials praised the discretionary reduction when Democratic majorities ruled the legislature.  In a 2010 DPI press release, state education officials declared,

There are positives in the Senate budget, including the additional flexibility tools local school district leaders can use to make decisions about funding cuts at the local level. The Senate budget also left the discretionary reduction — also known as a negative reserve or flexibility adjustment — at the $304 million level already written in the 2010-11 budget rather than increasing it. The flexibility adjustment is a requirement for local school districts to return a specific amount of state dollars as a part of the budget.

This year, the General Assembly reduced the discretionary reduction from $500 million to $360 million.  What happened to talk about "flexibility tools" and the ability of school districts to "make decisions about funding cuts at the local level?" 

Although much has been made about the 1.2 percent pay raise granted to public school employees, few have mentioned that Republican lawmakers fully funded the Teachers’ and State Employees’ Retirement System and added a one percent cost of living adjustment for retirees.  Unfortunately, neither of these decisions will receive the recognition they deserve.

Conservatives will find some disappointments in the budget.  Republican leaders excluded two important reform proposals from the budget — abolishing teacher tenure and providing tax credit scholarships for low-income students (House Bill 1104: Scholarship Funding Corporate Tax Credit).  While budget conferees could not agree to include these measures this year, there is little doubt that both will be placed back on the table in 2013.  In fact, Republican legislators are just getting warmed up.

Random Thought

I went to Legoland Florida last week.  It was legorific.

Facts and Stats

Education Appropriations, 2012-2013

Community Colleges – $990,165,000
Public Education – $7,506,553,067
University System – $2,575,781,169
Total Education – $11,072,499,236

(Source: "The Joint Conference Committee Report On The Continuation, Expansion And Capital Budgets," June 20, 2012, p. 2)

Mailbag

I would like to invite all readers to submit announcements, as well as their personal insights, anecdotes, concerns, and observations about the state of education in North Carolina.  I will publish selected submissions in future editions of the newsletter.  Anonymity will be honored.  For additional information or to send a submission, email Terry at [email protected].

Education Acronym of the Week

OSBM — Office of State Budget and Management

Quote of the Week

"This budget is a positive step forward for North Carolina.  In spite of these difficult economic times, we have restored hundreds of millions of dollars to public education, taken steps to achieve better results in the classroom, made Medicaid fiscally solvent, provided raises to teachers and state employees, and cut the gas tax.  We answered the governor’s call to invest in education and other priorities, and we look forward to her signing this budget."

Statement by Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger (R-Rockingham)

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