Cooper calls out lawmakers on education funding

"This General Assembly has a [Republican] super-majority, and it can do whatever it wants, and the problem that I have is that they have not been willing to do the important, simple things like invest in education," Cooper said in an interview with WRAL News anchor David Crabtree for Saturday's edition of "On the Record."

The $23 billion state budget that lawmakers passed over Cooper's veto in June included a 9.5 percent average raise for teachers over two years, but the governor criticized the plan for not including beginning and the most veteran teachers.

"They talk about teacher pay, but their plans don't reflect their rhetoric," Cooper said in the interview.

Gov. Roy Cooper campaign promise tracker (first term)

"I’ve worked with Republican leadership in the legislature at every opportunity as much as I can, but it’s been disappointing that they’re not willing to do some of the basic things of funding at the proper level our schools … which are the backbone of our state," he said.

Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger took issue with that stance.

"In reality, Gov. Cooper used his first year in office to pick fights with Republicans rather than work together," Berger, R-Rockingham, said in a statement. "He's shown up at ribbon cuttings to take credit for the benefits of Republican-led tax cuts and reforms and major job-recruiting tools and an extra $700 million for public education included in the budget he vetoed – all while lambasting those laws to raise money from his far-left base."

Cooper counters that trained workers, not tax cuts, are what lure companies to the state.

"They think that our success is all about they’ve cut corporate taxes and they’ve some cut tax for some wealthy people, and therefore, all these companies are coming to North Carolina," he said of lawmakers. "[Companies] come to North Carolina for the workforce, for the people, and that is the product of education."

North Carolina has for several years been "living off our reputation" as a state where the community college and university systems produce talented workers, he said. That reputation will soon start to erode without continued education spending, from pre-kindergarten to higher education, he said.

"I believe in the power of what we can do. We just need to make sure we invest in what has worked over the years," he said.

"Gov. Cooper recently declared, ‘North Carolina is the best state for business.' Since he shares our belief that an excellent education system is key to a strong economic climate, it’s clear the Republican-led General Assembly has our state on the right track after raising annual spending on K-12 schools more than $1 billion this decade," Joseph Kyzer, spokesman for House Speaker Tim Moore, said in an email.

Cooper spent part of Friday at a Charlotte elementary school, where he called on the General Assembly to provide money to school districts to help meet a mandate lawmakers passed a few years ago capping the size of classes in kindergarten through the third grade. While he lauded smaller classes in the interview, he said lawmakers shouldn't force school districts to cut other programs to accommodate the change.

"Education is not only in our state constitution," he said, "it is our DNA as North Carolinians. That is the key to our success in the future."