The parking sign outside the meeting Monday morning called it the "Burr-Bowles Summit" but it could just have easily called it a "love fest."

Republican Sen. Richard Burr and the man he defeated in 2004, Democrat Erskine Bowles, now president of the University of North Carolina, were the stars of the North Carolina Economic Development Summit, Rob Christensen reports.

"I've had a chance to work with this guy for four full years and nobody works harder or smarter for North Carolina than Richard Burr does," Bowles told about 200 people at N.C. Central University. "His focus on this state is truly unbelievable."

In introducing Bowles, Burr said: "Erskine Bowles is the best president of the university system we had the pleasure of having."

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* The State Bureau of Investigation is probing whether officials at the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles accepted improper gifts and meals from employees of Verizon Business, which holds a lucrative no-bid contract to provide computers to state inspection stations.

Investigators also are seeking to determine whether the state paid Verizon for hundreds of computers that were never delivered, at a cost of more than $1,700 each. (N&O)

* When Beverly Perdue was sworn in as North Carolina's first female governor in January, many women cheered her historic achievement.

And though many of those same women give Perdue high marks for her first months in office, there has been some grumbling among Democratic women that Perdue has not done more to bring other women along with her.

Perdue has appointed fewer women to Cabinet posts than any North Carolina governor in a generation and has fewer females among her top policy advisers than her recent male predecessors in the Executive Mansion. (N&O)

* At first, some Latino advocates celebrated news that North Carolina community colleges would open their doors to illegal immigrants.

Last week, they lamented that the opening was no more than a crack. The Sept. 18 decision from the State Board of Community Colleges allows undocumented students to enroll in degree programs at all of the state's 58 campuses, but it won't take effect until at least next fall because of a slow-moving administrative rules review process. And if enough people object, the rule could face a vote by the General Assembly, which has the power to kill it.

If the rule is approved, undocumented students will get last priority for classes at a time when surging enrollments have filled classrooms to capacity. And out-of-state tuition of $7,700 per year will be out of reach for many of the children of low-wage workers. (N&O)

Four members of the state Board of Community Colleges say they want to reverse a ban on admitting illegal immigrants to the state's colleges.

The four members who attended the committee meeting at Randolph Community College agreed unanimously to draft a policy that would allow the admission of undocumented immigrants who graduated from U.S. high schools — the same policy the UNC system uses, Kristin Collins reports.

As at UNC schools, the students would pay out-of-state tuition. The cost to out-of-state students is about $7,000 per year.

It was the board's first step toward crafting a policy since August, when they agreed to hire a consultant to study how other states handle the issue. The $75,000 study found that only one other state, South Carolina, bars illegal immigrants, and that students paying out-of-state tuition wouldn't burden taxpayers.

However, it will take several more months of meetings and discussion, along with a months-long administrative review, before any policy becomes final. It will be at least September before the full 21-member board votes on the policy.

Gov. Beverly Perdue has proposed cutting 20 programs.

As part of her $21 billion budget, Perdue proposed eliminating funding for everything from an online cultural heritage program to the UNC Center for Alcohol Studies.

The biggest cut is closing two adult bed units at Broughton and Cherry state mental hospitals, which would save $6 million in recurring funds. The smallest is $17,194 for the History Bowl program.

Other major suggested cuts:

* The Support Our Students program in the N.C. Department of Juvenile Justice: $5.9 million.

* Basic support case services in vocational rehabilitation at the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services: $3.6 million.

* A Community Service Block Grant through the N.C. Community College System: $1.9 million.

* An apprenticeship program at the N.C. Department of Labor: $1.8 million.

* Eliminating a reserve for focus growth at the University of North Carolina system: $1.3 million.

Gov. Beverly Perdue expects to save $150 million by not paying for vacant jobs.

Traditionally in North Carolina, the state budget has funded salaries for vacant jobs even though state agencies don't typically fill all of them.

But this year, Perdue proposes to reduce that to a number closer to what will actually be spent on salaries.

For the N.C. Community College System and the N.C. Department of Public Instruction, that's 97 percent of fully-funded salaries. For the N.C. Department of Correction, 92.5 percent.

Perdue alluded to the change during her State of the State address, saying that "truth in budgeting time is here."

In past years, legislators have said that state agencies use some of the lapsed salary money for other budget items, such as paying for prisoner meals or hiring contractors at state psychiatric hospitals.

The accounting change is one of the biggest savings on Perdue's proposed budget. 

Hat Tip: Scott Mooneyham

Enrollment growth at the state's universities and community colleges will cost nearly $100 million next year.

Legislators heard a briefing on the budgets for the UNC system and for the community college system on Wednesday.

Enrollment has swelled at the Community Colleges as the economic downturn has forced people to look for new careers and training, said Andrea Poole, an analyst in the legislature's Fiscal Research Division.

Enrollment, measured by calculating the equivalent of full time students, grew from by 2,348 students from fiscal year 2007 to fiscal year 2008. In the current fiscal year, enrollment grew by 6,250 to its current 201,625. There are 829,146 students taking at least some classes in the system.

That spike cost the state $23.8 million. Next year, the numbers are likely to rise even further and Poole said enrollment growth in next year's budget will cost as much as $47.7 million.

The state kicks in $1 billion of the community college system's $1.48 billion budget.

In the UNC system, enrollment is expected to grow by 12,399 students in the next two years, said Richard Bostic, a fiscal analyst. That growth will cost $44.8 million next year and $54.4 million in fiscal year 2011.

The state contributes 38.3 percent, or $2.9 billion of the system's $7.55 billion operating budget.

State agency heads are being told to cut their budgets by two percent in the current fiscal year as the economic downturn takes its toll on revenues.

A memo from State Budget Director Charles Perusse to state agency heads last week says that "allotments ... will be reduced by two percent of each agency's authorized budget," Ben Niolet and Dan Kane report.

"We are not immune from the nation's economic slowdown and are implementing measures now to give us as much time possible to manage a revenue shortfall should it arise," Perusse wrote.

Kennon Briggs, the executive vice president and chief of staff for the N.C. Community College system, said Perusse met with community college officials last week and told them there would be an across the board cut of two percent, with the possible exception of public schools.

A two percent cut amounts to roughly $400 million from a $21.4 billion state budget lawmakers passed in July. The colleges were told in a system memo released Friday to comply with the cuts by Oct. 17.

A copy of the memo also said that agencies are being asked to hold back an additional one percent of their budgets in case further cuts "are required later this year."

N.C. Community College System leaders checked and rechecked with the Attorney General's office before barring illegal immigrants from admission, System President Scott Ralls told the community college board Thursday.

Ralls walked through the events of the past few days with the board Thursday, reports Mark Johnson of The Charlotte Observer. 

Ralls received an advisory letter from Attorney General Roy Cooper's office last week indicating that their reading of federal law was that the state could not admit undocumented students. The letter was the result of a request for guidance from the community college system.

"Their opinion was not black and white," Shante Martin, the system's top lawyer, told the board.

So community college officials went back to lawyers in the attorney general's office to clarify: "Is this your advice?" Ralls said during his first board meeting as the system's new president.

The next day, news stories quoted U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials saying the opposite, that federal law did not require a ban.

Again, the community college leaders turned to Cooper's office."They indicated they would stand by their advisory letter," Ralls said.

Now the system awaits more guidance from the federal government. "We have become the poster children of why there needs to be federal clarification on these issues," Ralls said.

N.C. Community College System President Martin Lancaster said today he fully expects legislators to pass a law barring illegal immigrants from the state's colleges.

The legislation is likely to be introduced the first day of the legislative session next month, Lancaster said in a meeting with editors at The News & Observer.

Lancaster, who last year issued a passionate defense of allowing illegal immigrants to enroll at community colleges, said a new law would roll back the system's progress in educating immigrants to contribute to North Carolina's economy.

And, he added, if the legislation prohibits illegal immigrants from taking non-credit courses such as English as a second language, it would be "perverse."

More after the jump.

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Scott Ralls, who was elected last month as the next president of the N.C. Community College System, told the system board today that he's ready to get to work.

Ralls will succeed the retiring President Martin Lancaster on May 1, but he will report to work at the Raleigh headquarters April 1 as president-elect, Jane Stancill reports. Ralls is now president of Craven Community College in New Bern.

He told community college system board members this morning that the "Four C's" will guide his 100 days in office—community, collaboration, connection and change.

He also talked about the need for more state resources for the colleges as Baby Boomers retire and workforce needs evolve. And he emphasized how important it is to work with other education agencies, particularly the UNC system.