Advocacy

The private school voucher bill, House Bill 944 Opportunity Scholarship Act, received a favorable report by the House Education Committee today and will now be considered by the House Appropriations Committee.

During this morning’s House Education Appropriations Subcommittee hearing, the following annotated Senate budget was handed out.  This is a helpful document with descriptions on both proposed cuts and appropriations.  The document can be found at the following link:  http://www.ncleg.net/documentsites/Committees/HouseAppropriationsEducation/2013%20Session/05-28-2013%20Meeting/FRD_SB402_Annotated_SenateCommittee_Report_2013-05-22.pdf

The proposed NC Senate budget provides significant cuts to both teacher assistants and North Carolina Pre-K.  The budget cuts 2,400 slots from the North Carolina Pre-K program and cuts an estimated 4,580 teacher assistant positions.  The budget also cuts master’s supplement pay for teachers beginning in 2014-2015.  Pay will not change for teachers who are receiving the supplement prior to 2014-2015.  In addition, the budget repeals the law that provides class size maximums for K-12 classes. The budget includes additional State support for Teach for America and provides merit pay for teachers, which will allow superintendents to provide a $500 annual pay raise

North Carolina DPI has put together helpful resources on the proposed Senate budget, including a comparison of the Senate budget and Governor’s budget.  The budget resources can be found here:  http://www.ncpublicschools.org/fbs/budget/

This WRAL link contains coverage and a video of the complete House Education Committee meeting on the Opportunity Scholarship Act or voucher bill.  http://www.wral.com/private-school-scholarship-bill-discussed/12469102/

To read the text of the proposed Senate budget, go to the NC General Assembly website and click on the budget links under News and Information.

The House of Representatives Education Committee will hear House Bill 944 Opportunity Scholarship Act on Tuesday.  A link to the bill can be viewed here.  A list of members of the Education Committee can be found here.

Here is a link to a News and Observer article that provides a comparison between the Senate tax reform package and the House of Representatives tax reform package.  http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/05/16/2896417/apnewsbreak-details-of-nc-house.html

http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/05/17/2898283/whirlwind-push-moves-roughly-180.html

Senate Bill 236 Counties Responsible for School Construction passed the Senate and will now be considered by the House of Representatives.  The bill would allow the boards of commissioners in nine counties to remove from local school boards authority to build and own schools.  The bill can be viewed here.