Did North Carolina’s budget make Cuts to Education?
Published July 26, 2013
By Sarah Curry, The Locker Room, July 24, 2013.
This is a simple question with a simple answer – NO. In government, private corporations, not-for-profits, or even in your own home, comparing a budget usually operates on a yearly basis. You evaluate what was spent in one year, and then compare it to the next year. So, when we compare the Education spending in North Carolina’s new budget to last year’s budget, this is what we see:
Fiscal year 2012-13 Fiscal year 2013-14 %Increase Dollar increase
$11,072,499,236 $11,472,304,386 3.61 $399,805,150
Obviously, the above numbers make it is easy to see that there was an increase in spending, not a decrease as so many on the Left want you to believe.
So what are they talking about?
Here is the confusion explained. Every year, the General Assembly’s legislative staff creates a forecast, and they present their opinion of funding and revenue needed for government agencies based on their forecast calculations. This is how many things are done in state government, using forecasts instead of actual numbers. So, the left is claiming there is a decrease in education spending based upon this forecast, not any real spending data. This number is an informational baseline for legislators when deciding how much funding an agency might receive. Another baseline used is the amount of money actually spent the prior year. The Left is only using the forecast number, which is much higher than last year’s spending, and causing them to claim there is a cut in spending for education.
In fact, it is only a baseline. Decisions about real world policy have to be made by our elected representatives and not economists or statisticians on the fiscal research staff. This year those representatives of the people decided to increase spending on education by almost $400 million. That is a fact.
July 26, 2013 at 10:15 am
Darrell Almond says:
NOW WE KNOW WHY WE CALL IT NC SPIN. Tell that spin to asst teachers that will lose their jobs.
July 26, 2013 at 12:49 pm
Bob McSwain says:
OK, Just the facts, Ma'am:
The following come from double verified sources / professional journalists.
* North Carolina teachers are responding to dealing with no pay raise again. The state's nearly $21 billion budget doesn't include money for a raise.
* North Carolina is last when it comes to increase of teacher pay. The report ranks North Carolina as 51st. Teacher pay has declined in the Tar Heel state by about 16%.
* The state's average teacher salary is nearly $10,000 less than the national average of $55,418.
* The budget also phases out tenure
* It cuts education spending by almost $500 million in the next two years, including a decrease in net spending for K-12 public schools.
* It eliminates more than 5,000 teaching positions and nearly 4,000 teaching assistants across the state. (more than 3,850 second- and third-grade teaching assistants will be gone.)
July 26, 2013 at 2:43 pm
dj anderson says:
How dare someone not saying the sky hasn't fallen!
There is more money allotted to education, yes, but the per pupil amount for public education is down $400 per student for there are more students. The Slate article said teacher pay was slashed, and it wasn't, but there was not even a cost of living increase for teachers and state employees, whose pay has essentially been frozen since 2009.
Soon, instead of the spin of sensationalized talking points, NC Democrats will settle down and try to make sense with Republicans who can easily dismiss them now.
To get a single democrat vote, do you think Republicans would have let the polls remain open an hour to let those in line vote? Would that not have been something to get rather than nothing?
July 30, 2013 at 11:05 am
Cameron Harris says:
While you are correct in your analysis, you made one vital mistake...
You didn't account for inflation.
A dollar in 2011 is not worth the same as a dollar in 2013. If you account for inflation, you will see that spending did in fact get cut.
August 23, 2013 at 11:58 am
Michael says:
Teacher Assistant pay has been reduced to 80% of last year's rate. That's a severe cut. Also, in our county, a lot of TAs have been cut, meaning fewer adults in the classroom.
