Senate Budget Released: Slight Improvements in Education; More Cuts in HHS and Juvenile Justice May 25, 2011
Greetings!
The Senate Appropriations committees released the draft Senate budget yesterday. The Senate invested more in teachers to reduce class sizes slightly, but made deeper cuts than the House in Health and Human Services and Juvenile Justice. Perhaps the most dramatic change is the elimination of the NC Partnership for Children, the state office of Smart Start, and placement of the local partnerships under the Division of Child Development (DCD) in Health and Human Services. Committees walked through the bill and took questions from legislators but no amendments were allowed. The bill will be amended today and maybe tomorrow in the full Appropriations committee. Once the bill passes the full Senate, the House and Senate will conference and create a joint budget. Once that document passes both houses, it will go to the Governor for her signature or her veto. Governor Perdue has threatened to veto the bill over the public education cuts. The Senate Finance committee released its tax package as well. It calls for an end to the temporary tax package and a .25% cut for each income tax bracket, which will mean less revenue for the state going forward. Budget Documents
Line-by-line comparisons of the House budget vs. the draft Senate budget are below.
Budget documents of the draft Senate budget from the Legislature are below. If you have difficulty opening these, please visit www.ncleg.net and look under "News and Information" for "2011 Budget Information" and click on the items: - Money Report: Lists the dollar amounts cut or added to each line-item
- Special Provisions: Changes in statute that go along with the dollar amount changes.
Budget Details Below are some of the highlights of the Senate draft budget, as it compares to the House budget. K-12 Education The Senate budget has some brights spots in Education, but it is overall a bad education budget for children. The Senate cuts K-12 Education 8%, compared to the House budget's 8.8% cut and the Governor's 4.4% cut. Both the House and Senate budgets cut teacher assistants in grades 2 and 3, assistant principals and support positions; eliminate the drop-out prevention grants; cut textbooks, mentoring and nonprofit funding; and cut More at Four by 20% and transfer the Pre-K program from the Department of Public Instruction to the Division of Child Development in DHHS. In addition, the Senate budget: - Invests an additional $62 million each year to decrease the teacher:student ratio from 1:18 to 1:17. This would add about 1100 new teachers each year of the biennium.
- Does NOT cut at-risk students services, intellectually gifted allotment or funds for limited English proficient students.
- Eliminates teaching assistants in grade 1 as well, leaving TAs only in kindergarten.
- Cuts salaries for teachers with Masters and Board certifications
- Cuts Small County funding and funds only one LEA per county
- Further reduces funding for assistant principals and instructional support.
- Eliminates the Center for the Advancement of Teaching
- Closes 1 of the 3 residential schools for the deaf and blind; cuts the remaining two.
Health and Human Services Some of the extra funding for the Education budget came out of the HHS budget. All the child-serving divisions -- and DHHS overall -- were cut more or the same as in the House budget. The Senate cut HHS 11.3%, compared to the House budget's 10.8% cut and the Governor's 4.3% cut. Both the House and Senate budgets cut child care subsidies and Smart Start; reduce Medicaid provider rates, cut optional services for adults and look for big savings in Medicaid; and cut mental health community support funds. On a positive note, neither budget creates an enrollment cap for Health Choice. Additional changes in the Senate budget include: - Early Education: Just like the House, the Senate cuts More at Four and Smart Start by 20% and transfers More at Four to DCD. The Senate goes further, however, and eliminates the NC Partnership for Children, Inc (the state office of Smart Start) and puts the local partnerships under the administration of DCD. The budget cuts the administration spending cap for local partnerships in half (to 4% from 8%) and increases the minimum amount required to go to child care subsidies, which leaves less for other critical Smart Start programs. See Action Alert, below.
- Medicaid: The Senate budget cuts much more from Medicaid, mainly in adult optional services and provider rates. Advocates are concerned that these steps will result in fewer providers willing to take Medicaid patients, which will decrease access to health care for children on Medicaid.
- Public Health: The Senate budget follows the House's lead in eliminating the Health and Wellness Trust Fund, but it does designate $22 million of that funding for obesity prevention and tobacco use prevention among children and youth.
- Mental Health: The Senate takes more funding out of community services and LME administration.
Juvenile Justice The Senate budget cuts juvenile justice 9.7%, nearly the same as the House budget (9.6%), compared to the Governor's 7.3% cut. Both the House and Senate budgets close two Youth Development Centers, reduce detention beds, cut wilderness camps, reduce court counselors by combining judicial districts; and consolidate the Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention into a new Department of Public Safety, along with Corrections, Crime Control and Public Safety. On a high point, neither the House nor Senate budget makes cuts to Juvenile Crime Prevention Councils, the community services of the juvenile system. In addition, the Senate budget eliminates two education directors and the education superintendent in the juvenile justice system. ACTION ITEM - Smart Start Threatened: Contact Senate Leadership Now! As highlighted above, the Senate draft budget makes substantial changes to Smart Start that threaten the program's integrity. The Senate needs to hear from you TODAY that North Carolinians support early education and don't want to see our award-winning early education system dismantled. Contact your Senator and Senate leadership today. Check www.ncleg.net to find out who represents you. See below for contact information for Senate leadership. President Pro Tempore of the Senate: Phil Berger Phil.Berger@ncleg.net (919) 733-5708 Senate Appropriations/Base Budget Chairs: Pete Brunstetter Peter.Brunstetter@ncleg.net (919) 733-7850 Neal Hunt Neal.Hunt@ncleg.net (919) 733-5850 Richard Stevens Richard.Stevens@ncleg.net (919) 733-5653 Senate HHS Appropriations Chairs: Stan Bingham Stan.Bingham@ncleg.net (919) 733-5665 Harris Blake Harris.Blake@ncleg.net (919) 733-4809 Louis Pate Louis.Pate@ncleg.net (919) 733-5621 Tommy Tucker Tommy.Tucker@ncleg.net (919) 733-7659 Sincerely, Action for Children North Carolina | 
