Democrats reach tentative budget deal
House and Senate Democrats completed a tentative budget agreement for the next two years Friday evening, almost a month after a plan to run North Carolina state government was supposed to be in place.
Posted — Updated"It's really been a hard year, and that's why it's taken us so long," said Sen. Linda Garrou, D-Forsyth, one of the Senate's top negotiators.
The final sticking point worked out publicly stemmed around public school spending cuts, which fellow Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue demanded needed to minimize damage to classroom operations.
"I am certain the General Assembly understands the need to protect education, and as critical negotiations continue through the weekend, I must have confidence they will end up doing what's right for North Carolina's children," Perdue said on Friday.
Perdue will be asked to sign the budget into law.
Previous proposals called for increasing the average class size in public schools by two or three students, eliminating thousands of teaching jobs. Lawmakers said Friday they would hold the line on classes from kindergarten through sixth grade, but local school districts would have to make cuts in grades 7 through 12 to make up for lower revenue.
The agreement would give schools flexibility to use other pots of money to hire as many teachers as possible, such as state money for textbooks.
The final agreement also didn't contain a House proposal that would have eliminated funding for teacher assistants in third grade.
Legislative leaders also said late Friday the budget:
- would close seven small or aging prisons, leaving open an eighth threatened with closure in Haywood County. Lawmakers said many correction officers would find work in other nearby prisons.
- would close the Samarkand Youth Development Center for female delinquents in Moore County but keep open the Dobbs Youth Development Center in Lenoir County.
- doesn't touch a program that discounts university athletic and academic scholarships for out-of-state residents, with taxpayers picking up the difference.
The budget negotiations were stalled for much of July, requiring lawmakers to approve three stopgap spending plans to keep state government operating without a budget in place. Perdue signed the third into law Friday afternoon to prevent the government from shutting down over the weekend.
The House and Senate made a breakthrough last week when they agreed to a tax plan, but it quickly collapsed after Perdue complained about a proposed income tax increase.
Senate negotiators left Raleigh after that and suggested a budget could take weeks to approve. But leading Democrats in the House and Senate agreed in principle to a second tax plan late Thursday.
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