For months, Gov. Beverly Perdue has maintained that the federal stimulus money for education should prevent local districts from having to cut teachers.

Now that the state has a budget that does not explicitly prohibit districts from increasing class sizes in 4th grade and higher, Perdue wants the districts to say how they're spending their stimulus money, Lynn Bonner reports.

Perdue said Friday that she asked the State Board of Education this week to get a stimulus spending report from every district.

"The locals have received fairly significant sums of money from the federal government in education dollars earmarked for recovery, to keep massive cuts from happening in North Carolina," she said.

"That's what the money's for, so I've asked them to follow up within a month and find out what the money is actually being spent on."

ON THE BRIGHT SIDE: House and Senate Democrats adopted a $19 billion state budget. Only a few were willing to admit they were happy about the spending plan. The state's teacher lobby claimed a victory because it figured it could convince all of the state's school districts to keep all teacher jobs intact. Republicans were probably just a little happy that Democrats approved a $990 million tax increase (Can anyone say "Campaign issue?") North Carolina was probably happy to leave Connecticut and Pennsylvania as the only two states who haven't yet adopted a budget.

BABY PICTURES: John Edwards' ex-mistress, Rielle Hunter, had a family photo shoot scheduled in Raleigh on Thursday. Technically, it was a grand jury appearance, but Hunter brought her child along presumably because she couldn't find a sitter. The baby's father, whoever that may be, must not have been available.

GET OUT OF HERE: The Senate decided it had enough this week. The House wasn't ready to call it a session. In the last full week of legislating, lawmakers took key votes on a death penalty bill, a ban on a hallucinogenic herb and the Beach Plan.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Superintendent Peter Gorman said the state tax hikes will let him rehire "a substantial number" of the 665 teachers he laid off earlier this summer.

"We will bring back teachers. Absolutely. And I am thrilled about it," Gorman said at a news conference this morning, Ann Doss Helms of The Charlotte Observer reports.

Gorman said he will present specific recommendations for bringing back teachers and other laid-off employees at Tuesday's school board meeting. He said he needs more specifics on how the state budget awaiting the governor's signature will affect Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, but the board needs to act before school starts Aug. 25.  

It's looking an awful lot like Gov. Beverly Perdue won't be having a ceremonial bill signing for the state budget.

Perdue has had ceremonies for a handful of bills this session, notably the ban on smoking in bars and restaurants. While no announcement has been made yet, there are an awful lot of reasons why she won't be hauling reporters and VIPs in to sign the bill into law.

The story line coming from House and Senate Democrats is that no one is happy about the budget, which spends $19 billion and raise $990 million in new taxes. Perdue has said she would sign the budget into law with reservations. She called for even more tax revenue to protect education from cuts.

So far, Perdue's office has announced a couple of unrelated events for Friday. Republicans were probably disappointed to see they wouldn't be able to get footage of Perdue signing a tax increase.

Republican Party chairman Tom Fetzer had planned to blast Democrats after the bill signing. He gave up Thursday.

"I don’t think you’ll see anyone clamoring for the pen that was used to sign this year’s budget. No one associated with the passage of this budget should be proud," Fetzer said in a statement.

The state's teacher lobby is planning to work district by district to keep state-mandated education cuts from increasing class size, a move which would result in the loss of teacher jobs.

The budget adopted by the House and Senate on Wednesday prohibits any changes to class size in grades K-3. It orders local school officials across the state to cut a total of $225 million. School officials are urged by the budget to move money around and use federal stimulus dollars to avoid harming classroom instruction.

The N.C. Association of Educators told members in an e-mail message that it believes no teacher jobs should be cut. A second message offered the organization's help to ensure jobs are preserved. That help could be through advice, or political pressure.

NCAE Vice President Rodney Ellis spoke to local leaders over the last two days and he is confidant that federal reporting guidelines, State Board rulemaking and NCAE's efforts to assist locals will preserve classroom resources for students.

"Nothing is more important to our success at the local level than getting members engaged in school board decisions and county commission budgets," Ellis said. "We have a budget that helps us, a federal government that is looking closely at local spending, but we must have a strong local membership willing to speak up."

Some school administrators have said they are reluctant to hire teachers based on federal dollars that aren't yet in hand.

NCAE says there are plenty of funds that have already been delivered and taht they've already been able to help school districts find cuts without sacrificing jobs. 

Update: Post includes fuller description of NCAE's position. 

House Democrats have tried, with mixed success, to explain that for every dollar raised in new taxes, a dollar is restored from what could have been painful cuts to important state programs.

Here's a breakdown, from the House, about which programs would be restored because of $990 million in new taxes included in the budget.

* Complete last phase of three-year takeover of Medicaid from counties, freeing money for local governments - $252 million

* Restores proposed elimination of 3rd-grade teaching assistants - $130 million

* Protection of K-3 teaching positions - $139 million

* Enrollment growth in community colleges - $58 million

* Enrollment growth in universities - $44 million

* Financial aid for UNC system - $35 million

* Expands Children’s Health Care Program (Health Choice) - $17 million

* Restores funding for 132 Jobs in State Courts - $7.5 million

* Restores Funding for 155 Victim Witness Legal Assistants - $7 million

* Keep Dobbs Youth Development Center open - $2.26 million

* Restores 400 proposed job cuts in Department of Corrections - $15 million

* Dropout Prevention Grants - $13 million

*Reduce variety of proposed fee increases - $26 million

Update: List does not include $285 million that was restored to overall education spending. That figure includes other education items that appear on the list. 

* The mentally ill in North Carolina will have less access to care as the state makes dramatic changes to save money in the recession.

The budget approved by the legislature Wednesday cuts about $40 million, or 12 percent, in mental health treatment for people without other insurance.

The cuts come despite the state's goal of providing more treatment to people where they live. The cuts and changes rip holes in an already-weak mental health system, advocates say.

They predict it will be harder for poor people without insurance to get community mental health care, and more could end up in emergency departments and jails. (N&O)

* As teachers worry about job security and residents pay a penny more on the dollar in sales tax, one interest group is emerging from North Carolina's new budget unscathed: state universities' athletic booster clubs.

Taxpayers will continue to pick up the tab for granting in-state tuition to out-of-state athletes at a cost of $10 million a year. (N&O)

The House and Senate approved a $19 billion spending plan Wednesday that cuts state spending and raises nearly $1 billion in new taxes.

The votes Wednesday were not much different than the ones taken the day before. The Senate approved the budget 27-18 without any debate. The House approved the bill 66 to 51 after some debate.

"How will the citizens of North Carolina see us?" asked Rep. Cullie Tarleton, a Blowing Rock Democrat. "Will we be seen as a body of individuals who generally care about education?...Or will we be seen as obstructionists?"

Sen. Phil Berger, an Eden Republican and the chamber's minority leader, called on Gov. Beverly Perdue to veto the budget since it raises taxes and makes cuts to education.

"Governor Beverly Perdue promised not to raise taxes during this recession and promised to protect our children's education," Berger said. "The budget making its way to Governor Perdue’s desk could cause as many as 5,000 teachers to lose their jobs."

The budget does require local school officials to decide on how to cut $225 million in education spending. Superintendents say that will likely lead to a loss of teacher jobs.

Perdue is expected to sign the budget into law.

The state's teacher lobby is claiming victory in the budget battle. In an e-mail message to members, the N.C. Association of Educators praised the current budget plan, which they said protected K-12 classrooms.

In a bold move by a first-term governor and General Assembly facing an economic downturn unseen since the Great Depression, class size in all grades are protected from increases in the 2009-2010 budget bill being considered this evening by the General Assembly.

Under the final version of the budget released publicly this morning, thousands of teachers, teacher assistants and support personnel are expected to return to work for the 2009-2010 school year. (Early media reports that class size was only protected in grades K-3 were based on an earlier version of the budget that is not under consideration today by the General Assembly.)

Uh, which budget are you reading, NCAE?

From the budget the legislature approved Tuesday:

"Local school administrative units shall have the maximum flexibility to use allotted teacher positions to maximize student achievement in grades 4-12. Allocation requirements in grades K-3 shall remain unchanged."

Here's what that means: Local school boards will be cut a total of $225 million. The state will allow local officials to move money around and best decide how to make those cuts while protecting the classroom.

But $225 million is a big hit. Rep. Ray Rapp, a Mars Hill Democrat and education co-chairman told the House Tuesday, that despite the flexibility granted to school officials in the budget, some class sizes will increase.

"There will have to be probably some expansion of classroom sizes in grades four to 12," Rapp said.

More after the jump.

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* The House and Senate approved the budget along strict party lines Tuesday.

The $19 billion spending plan is set to get its final votes in both chambers today. The compromise reached by Democrats requires local school districts to take the hatchet to education spending.

Local school districts have waited all summer for a state budget, but now, just three weeks before most schools open, they have to make $225 million in cuts themselves.