Leaders from every stage of education in North Carolina — from pre-kindergarten to higher education — appealed to Gov. Pat McCrory on Wednesday for a share of the state’s limited funds.
In a state education cabinet meeting, McCrory heard the budget priorities of the UNC system, the community college system, public K-12 education and early childcare and pre-K.
Leaders from each rattled off a list of objectives that they want funded in the short session — including salary increases for public school teachers, community college instructors and system faculty.
McCrory said long-term, he hopes to improve salaries for all educators in the state.
But he stressed that the state’s budget forecast is uncertain, since Medicaid expenses are still unknown and recent icy weather might lead to lower tax collections.
“I’ve got to prioritize what we ask the legislature to do in the short session versus the long session,” McCrory said. “If we ask too much, we might create even more issues down the road.”
The meeting came a few days after State Budget Director Art Pope rejected the UNC-system Board of Governors’ budget proposal, calling it “not realistic” and asking for a rewrite.
“The spiraling cost of higher education, the increased costs to students and their parents, including growing personal debt, as well as the increasing demands on the state budget, cannot continue indefinitely,” Pope wrote in the memo. “The University of North Carolina has a responsibility to its students and to the state to operate and improve the university in the most cost effective and affordable manner as practicable.”
Pope said the board requested an 11.3 percent — $288 million — increase from the state’s general fund.
