Education Funding Cuts Likely, Legislators Say

But state legislators, struggling to draw the balanced budget required by the state constitution, said it is unlikely that a financial alternative to education cuts will be found.

Lawmakers on the Joint Appropriations Subcommittee on Education recently asked education officials to present a plan for cutting $290 million from the education budget -- $125 million from the UNC-system budget. UNC-Chapel Hill would lose about $25 million under this proposal.

The budget deficit has reached nearly $800 million, but some analysts are predicting that the deficit will continue growing.

Fred Hartman, Easley's press secretary, said making students suffer is the wrong approach to deficit reduction.

"The governor has made his position clear," Hartman said. "Easley believes we can cut government and still make progress in education. That's why (the cuts he proposed) were in state agencies, not classrooms."

Hartman said the $125 million cut to the UNC system would harm recent efforts to bring the schools in line with their peer institutions. "It's hard to imagine how we could cut that much and remain competitive," he said.

But both Democratic and Republican legislators said something has to give to compensate for the state budget deficit.

Rep. Eugene Rogers, D-Martin, was one of the legislators who asked UNC-system President Molly Broad to present a plan for making the budget cuts.

Rogers, chairman of the appropriations subcommittee, said other state programs also are facing possible budget reductions.

"The public schools and community colleges took a big hit too -- and other state agencies as well," he said. "The budget deficit isn't getting any better. We don't have any alternative."

Republican legislators said one of the few things that will preserve the education budget is an increase in state revenues -- which is highly unlikely.

Rep. George Holmes, R-Wilkes, who sits with Rogers on the subcommittee, said state officials still have no definite idea on how high the budget deficit might ballon. "It could be even worse than currently projected because it is still rising," Holmes said.

Rep. W. B. Teague Jr., R-Alamance, another member of the appropriations subcommittee, also said that the projected shortfall continues to grow.

"Everybody in the state is taking hits -- law enforcement, social services, counties and cities," Teague said. "Some localities might have to raise property taxes, and you know how controversial that is."

Teague said he still is surprised at the state's rapidly growing budget deficit, which caught many officials off-guard.

State budget analysts were predicting a budget surplus of about $500 million last year.

"I don't know how we got into this mess so suddenly," Teague said. "The merchants tell me if there's a recession going on, it isn't a bad one as far as they can tell -- not so far. So I hope the budget situation will turn around soon."

Teague said he sympathizes with the displeasure Molly Broad and other university officials have expressed to proposed budget cuts.

"They are right to speak out," he said. "After all, our future is in our kids, and our education leaders have their job to do. But we have to take care of the Highway Patrol and the (State Bureau of Investigation) too."

But Rogers pointed out that the cuts are still in the proposed stage and not yet set in stone. "We'll just have to see how it all comes out on June 30 when we complete the budget."

The State & National Editor can be reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.