Senate/House Budget Compromise: More spending in Education, HHS, but still a bad budget for children May 31, 2011
Greetings!
Speaker of the House Thom Tillis announced at a press conference today that a compromise has been reached between the House and the Senate on the budget. The Senate Appropriations Committee will discuss the bill today, and the full Senate will vote on the bill tomorrow. The House will also have to pass the bill.
Tillis announced that the five House Democrats who supported the House bill have agreed to vote in favor of this compromise budget, giving the vote a veto-proof majority. It does not appear, however, that the swing voters have agreed to vote to override the Governor's veto, should she choose to veto the budget anyway.
Advocates were pleased to see that more investments were made in Public Education and in Health and Human Services (see below for details), but the budget overall is still a bad budget for children. The depth of the cuts would not be necessary if current revenues were maintained, as proposed in the Governor's budget. See Action Alert, below. Budget Documents
Line-by-line comparisons of the House budget vs. the first draft Senate budget vs. the House-Senate Compromise are below.
Budget documents of the new House-Senate budget compromise from the Legislature are below. - 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 House-Senate Compromise draft budget, as it compares to the Senate draft budget. K-12 Education The compromise budget invests more in Public Education than the Senate draft budget did, cutting it 5.0%. The Senate draft budget cut K-12 Education 8%, compared to the House budget's 8.8% cut and the Governor's 4.4% cut. Improvements from the draft Senate budget include: - Eliminates cuts to teacher assistants, leaving assistants in the classroom K-3rd grade.
- Eliminates cut to salaries for teachers with Masters and Board certifications
- Eliminates cut to fund only one LEA per county and small county funding
- Takes slightly less from assistant principles funding
- Takes less out of school bus replacement
- Reduces cuts to NC Center for the Advancement of Teaching
- Reduces cuts to Schools for the Blind and Deaf
However, the compromise budget also brings some cuts back in from the House budget that the Senate draft had left out, including: - A much larger cut to LEAs
- Cut to instructional supplies
- Cut to transportation
Health and Human Services Health and Human Services received slightly lower cuts in the compromise budget than in the Senate draft budget: 10.1%. The Senate draft cut HHS 11.3%, compared to the House budget's 10.8% cut and the Governor's 4.3% cut. Improvements from the Senate draft budget include: - Early Education: The compromise budget still cuts More at Four and Smart Start by 20% and transfers More at Four to DCD. However, it does not eliminate the NC Partnership for Children, Inc (the state office of Smart Start) and put the local partnerships under the administration of DCD. The compromise budget also does not cut the administration spending cap for local partnerships in half.
- Medicaid: Reduces cuts to provider rates and for optional Medicaid services
- Public Health: Eliminates cuts to oral health and school nurses
- Mental Health: Eliminates the cut to LME administration and lowers the community services cuts
- Social Services: Eliminates cuts to adoption payments and higher education for social workers
Juvenile Justice The compromise budget did not change DJJDP funding from the Senate draft version: 9.7%. 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 draft budget and compromise budget eliminate two education directors and the education superintendent in the juvenile justice system. ACTION ITEM - Contact Swing Legislators to Urge Them Not to Support Compromise Budget As mentioned above, despite some improvements in Education and Health and Human Services, the House-Senate Compromise budget is still a bad budget for children. Particularly in the areas of Medicaid and early education, the budget represents a rollback of our long time state investments in children and families. This severe of a rollback would not be necessary if current revenues were maintained.
Please contact the following five Representatives and encourage them to vote against the House-Senate Compromise budget.
Rep. William Brisson - 919-733-5772 Rep. Jim Crawford - 919-733-5824 Rep. Dewey Hill - 919-733-5830 Rep. Bill Owens - 919-733-0010 Rep. Tim Spear - 919-715-3029
Sincerely, Action for Children North Carolina | 
