While the move today to bar illegal immigrants from North Carolina community colleges won praise from groups like Americans for Legal Immigration PAC, it drew a rebuke from the left for Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue.

Perdue, the Democratic nominee for governor, made the motion to ban illegal immigrants from community colleges while a study is being done on the issue.

The motion, approved by the State Board of Community Colleges, was a reversal from Thursday, when officials indicated they were inclined to admit illegal immigrants pending the outcome of the study.

That drew the following response to Perdue from James Protzman at BlueNC:

I'm sure you and your staff agonized about whether to sell out poor brown people for political advantage, but agony or not, you came down on the wrong side of an important moral issue. Which makes your campaign irrelevant to me. Don't bother calling. Don't bother writing. Don't bother me at all. You don't need progressives, and progressives don't need you. I'm heading for Mike Munger.

The Alliance for North Carolina has released an economic plan.

The 527 organization, which is running an ad attacking Republican gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory, issued a 12-point plan to improve the North Carolina economy today.

For the most part, the proposals are in line with Democratic candidate Beverly Perdue's platform, though the Alliance's goals are pitched at a more general level.

Among the points of agreement:

Minimum Wage: The Alliance calls for raising the minimum wage "to a level that better enables workers to fully provide for their families." Perdue has called for raising it by a dollar.

Military Jobs: The Alliance calls for expanding the state's "economic leadership" in military jobs. Perdue helped create a nonprofit that lobbies for defense spending.

Free Community College: The Alliance calls for making community college free. Perdue has proposed waiving tuition for graduates of state high schools.

"We hope that public officials and policy makers throughout North Carolina will discuss and comment on our 12-point economic plan," said Alliance spokesman Scott Falmlen in a statement. "Our goal is to stimulate discussion — pro and con — and we encourage people everywhere in the state to join this discussion."

The full plan after the jump.

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Leaders of the state's community colleges voted today to close their doors to illegal immigrants until they complete a study and come up with a permanent policy.

The decision today by the State Board of Community Colleges marks a reversal from Thursday, when officials indicated they were inclined to admit illegal immigrants pending the outcome of the study, reports Lynn Bonner.

Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue, the Democratic candidate for governor, made the motion to ban illegal immigrants from community colleges while the study is ongoing.

Leaders of Americans for Legal Immigration PAC were quick to praise the board's move.

"The vast majority of NC's legal citizenry do not want illegal aliens in the limited seats of our colleges," William Gheen of ALIPAC said in a statement. "We are happy the board upheld the ban so the campaigns for public office and eventually the state legislature can take up this issue."

U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick has announced a bill that would cut federal funding from colleges and universities that knowingly admit illegal immigrants.

The Charlotte Republican has made immigration central to her re-election campaign, and she said recent developments in North Carolina led her to push for clarity on the issue.

She said the bill, which will be introduced in September, would not target student loans, but would focus on federal money that goes to the schools.

"We can't just wink at (the problem) and pretend it doesn't exist," she said. "Illegal is illegal." (Char-O)

Meantime, the State Board of Community Colleges will meet today to discuss whether illegal immigrants should be allowed to attend the state's 58 community colleges. (N&O)

House and Senate leaders reached agreement on a $21.3 billion budget proposal by postponing two tax breaks and greatly increasing borrowing for construction projects at UNC campuses, state prisons and other state facilities.

"We think this is a very good budget, a budget that in tough times still keeps us moving in North Carolina in a number of ways," said House Speaker Joe Hackney, an Orange County Democrat, Dan Kane reports.

The agreement calls for no tax increases and includes modest pay raises for teachers and state employees. Teachers, UNC professors and community college instructors would receive an average increase of three percent, though beginning teachers would fare better, in deference to a request from Gov. Mike Easley.

All other state employees would receive the greater of a 2.75 percent or $1,100 increase. Retirees would receive a 2.2 percent cost of living adjustment.

They dropped a Senate provision that would have given Easley the opportunity to further boost teacher pay in the fall if revenues improved beyond expectations. Hackney said there was little chance that would happen, given the sinking economy.

More after the jump.

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John C. Brooks says he would be a progressive labor commissioner.

The candidate for the Democratic nomination and former longtime commissioner says he has three top goals if elected to the office:

1. Boost OSHA staff. Brooks would ask the legislature to double the size of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration program, which inspects workplaces. He says the staff is "miserably small" and would take 130 years to inspect each existing business one time.

2. Start a skills academy. He would start a four-year residential college focused on training workers for high-skilled manufacturing jobs beyond the community college level. He would ask the University of North Carolina system to run it, similar to an existing biotech center run by N.C. State.

3. Work with national labor lawyers. A lawyer, Brooks says he would join the American Bar Association's working group on labor law, which has been a leading voice on workplace reforms in recent years. He notes that neither his Democratic opponent, Mary Fant Donnan, or incumbent Republican Cherie Berry could join since they do not have law degrees.

The House budget proposal calls for a study to find ways to improve financial aid for community college students.

The budget includes a provision calling for a study by a legislative education committee, with particular emphasis on how to better serve adult working students and how to increase the number of community colleges that participate in federal student loan programs.

The provision echoes recommendations by the N.C. Center for Public Policy Research, which last month released a report calling for better financial aid at the state's 58 community colleges. The report quoted a national study that ranked North Carolina third-worst in the country because only 47 percent of the state's community college students have access to federal student loan programs.

Only 23 of 58 community colleges now offer their needy students low-interest federal loans. Those that don't participate in the loan programs fear they'll lose all federal financial aid if too many of their students default on loans. The center recommended that all colleges create loan default prevention programs. 

Rep. George Cleveland's legislation asks the House and Senate to consider taking up a bill that would ban illegal immigrants from state colleges. If he succeeds, he would follow up with the actual legislation. He was lining up other sponsors for that second bill Monday night.

"I just strongly feel that our universities and community colleges are for our kids," said Cleveland, a two-term Republican.

The process to pass a ban at this time is cumbersome because this is the legislature's short session, and the rules typically prohibit lawmakers from taking up bills that did not pass either chamber last year during the long session. So Cleveland needs lawmakers to vote to give his proposed ban consideration before they can actually vote for or against it.

UNC system and community college officials say a tiny minority of their students are illegal immigrants. Those students are required to pay more expensive out-of-state tuition. State officials say these students are therefore subsidizing North Carolinians who pay in-state rates. (N&O)

North Carolina's community college system will no longer admit illegal immigrants to degree programs based on an advisory letter from the Office of the Attorney General, the system announced today.

Community college officials made the decision based on a May 6 letter from Attorney General Roy Cooper's office and a subsequent meeting with officials in the office, reports Jane Stancill.

"We asked the Attorney General’s Office for clarification of our present policy and will abide by their advice,” said System President R. Scott Ralls. “We will continue to be a primary source of economic advancement for the state by providing world-class education and workforce training to every student eligible to enroll.”

Cooper's office had advised the 58 community colleges to return to a 2001 policy that prohibited illegal immigrants from degree classes. Late last year, the system's attorney had directed colleges that they could not bar such students.

The system's decision is counter to federal officials, who said last week that North Carolina schools are free to decide whether or not to enroll illegal immigrants. That came in a statement by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Gov. Mike Easley had also challenged the advisory letter from the Attorney General's office.

State Rep. Deborah Ross has her eye on education.

The Raleigh Democrat says her biggest goal for the budget is a raise for teachers and state employees, though she did not have a specific amount in mind.

"I don't want to give a number because then they'll be mad at me because I didn't say a high enough number," she said. "I'm hoping that we can do as well as we did last year."

In the 2007-08 budget,  teachers, UNC faculty and community college instructors received a 5 percent increase, while most state employees got a 4 percent raise.

Ross said she also hopes to land the rest of the funding for the Green Square project in downtown Raleigh, increase the contribution to the Housing Trust Fund to $50 million a year, add consumer protection measures on foreclosures and put a transportation bond before voters.

She also wants more funding for domestic violence shelters and other changes. 

"We want to reduce the number of violations of domestic violence protective orders you need before it's considered a felony," she said.