Bob Luebke at Civitas broke down Governor Roy Cooper’s budget proposal and the price tag is hefty — $1.1 billion in new spending.
$783 million of that $1.1 billion is marked for education. $271 million will go to teacher raises and $20 million in principal and assistant principal increases.
What received zero funds was the increasingly popular Opportunity Scholarship program which gives funds to parents and student to attend a private school or similar of their choice. The Governor also snubbed the Charter school system with a measly $100,000.
The budget also promotes Cooper’s idea of ‘free community college’ to the tune of $19 million dollars. Nothing is ‘free’. Instead, it means taxpayers get saddled with a $19 million dollar bill to send other people’s kids to college.
Cooper appears to be breaking one of his promises, which is tackling the issue of NC State Lottery not sending money where it is supposed to go:
$49 million – The Governor’s budget proposes to repurpose nearly $50 million in NC Education Lottery money to pay for classroom support staff, new textbooks and digital learn materials and new programs. The changes continue a trend of lottery money being moved around and outside the classroom, its intended destination.
Nowhere in Cooper’s budget does it say how the Governor proposes to pay for this massive increase.
Cooper said while campaigning and several times since being sworn in that he would not raise taxes — so where will his budget funding come from? We reached out to the governor’s office but did not receive a response.
