House education budget writers are deferring to their bosses on whether to propose teacher furloughs for the next two school years.

Chairs of the House education appropriations subcommittee said the chairs of the overall appropriations committee will decide whether to propose a 5-day teacher furlough for the 2009-2010 school year and a ten-day furlough for the following year.

The idea would save an estimated $100 million in the '09-'10 year and $200 millin in the '10 - '11 school year.

"A furlough lets us keep people" employed, said Rep. Ray Rapp, a Madison County Democrat and co-chair of the education subcommittee.

Local school districts can decide how to impose the furloughs, such as shortening the school year, canceling teacher work days or otherwise spreading the days out over the year.

State legislators have now asked for $87.9 million.

Seven more bills filed since Dome last checked have added another $14 million in spending requests for specific programs, even as the state faces a $2 billion shortfall.

The largest request of the most recent batch is $11.8 million for the N.C. Center for Automotive Research for a driving course and other facilities. That bill also asks for $6.4 million in next year's budget. The smallest request is for $129,000 in upgrades at the Ingram Planetarium.

Other spending bills filed so far this week would replace the roof at Gates County High School, repair the historic Newbold-White House, provide support to people with dementia and their caregivers and expand social work programs at state colleges.

In addition, a bill was filed in the House that is identical to a Senate bill that would provide $44 million in bonuses to teachers that were not given out in 2007.

Those two bills remain the single largest requests for spending so far.

In addition to the spending this year, the special appropriations bills also call for an additional $7.9 million in next year's budget.

Gov. Mike Easley has vetoed nine bills.

As the first governor to use the veto in North Carolina history, he's taken on a hodgepodge of legislation in his two terms in office.

The vetoed bills would have:  

* Approved certain legislative appointments. 

* Changed mortgage lending laws.

* Changed teacher certification.

* Compensated billboard owners.

* Changed teacher certifications.

* Sold an airport site to Currituck County for a dollar.

* Granted access to state buildings to employees associations.

* Given incentives to Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.

* Allowed wider boats and trailers on state roads. 

Vetoes of the first eight bills were all sustained. The boats bill was vetoed Sunday, so the legislature has not yet acted on it. 

Teacher pay increased between 1.8 and 8.2 percent in each of Kay Hagan's budgets.

The Democratic Senate nominee, who served as the Senate Appropriations co-chairwoman from 2003 to 2007, has cited her teacher pay raises in a recent TV ad.

Here are the average pay raises effective on July 1 of each year, according to the N.C. Department of Public Instruction:

2003: 1.81 percent

2004: 2.5 percent

2005: 2.24 percent

2006: 8.23 percent

2007: 5.0 percent

The actual raises could vary according to individual employees and other factors, as the calculations are rather complicated. The figures cited are for average across the board increases. 

Gov. Mike Easley says the legislature "cannot ignore reality."

In a statement issued Sunday, Easley said that he is concerned that House and Senate budget writers are not reacting to the reduction in expected state revenues.

"The State Constitution requires that a budget be balanced before I sign it," he said in a statement. "The General Assembly cannot ignore reality. The very latest numbers verify that we remain short of the estimates that legislative budget writers are currently using."

Easley proposes getting rid of $20 million in proposed tax cuts, but keeping pre-kindergarten spending and pay raises for teachers, essentially threatening a veto.

"I want to be clear — the budget must be balanced and have the right priorities for me to sign it. I hope we can build a budget we can all be proud of," he said.

The UNC system is working on a new database through which officials hope to get a better grasp on the state's teaching shortage.

The data is culled from Department of Public Instruction files and uses characteristics such as race, gender, salary, SAT scores and other factors to determine whether a public school teacher is more or less likely to leave the profession, Eric Ferreri reports.

There are 15 teaching education programs across the state university system, and officials say this data model program, once complete, may be a valuable tool for both the university and K-12 system as it looks for ways to train and retain teachers, particularly in rural and urban school districts.

"This is going to be great for the state," said Erskine Bowles, the UNC system president, during a Thursday meeting of the UNC system's governing board. "I can't wait to show it to the legislature."

The database is not yet complete.

Sen. Eddie Goodall is fighting an uphill battle to get lawmakers to give away $50 million in revenue.

Goodall, a Weddington Republican, has again filed a bill that would divert all tax money collected by the state on lottery winnings to a fund to pay for classroom supplies.

"It was logical to me. It's supposed to be an education lottery, correct?"

Money raised by ticket sales pays for four specific education priorities. But taxes collected on prize money goes to the general fund. Goodall's proposal has failed at least once before.

Goodall says the state collects as much as $50 million a year from the winnings of lottery players. That's enough, he said to give every teacher in the state (100,000) a $500 stipend to cover the cost of classroom supplies. But that would mean the state would have $50 million less to pay for other things.

Goodall said his bill hasn't gotten much attention from the education lobby. "I assume that if they're not interested in taking the money, that if they're not interested in that bill, we might have some problems," he said.

Gov. Mike Easley said this morning that he was puzzled by the decisions of state House members to cut his proposed teacher raises and other educational expense increases.

"It's very puzzling to me how a House who was so progressive on education last year can retrench so rapidly this year, failing to fund More at Four for our predominately minority students, really stiffing the teachers and not providing enrollment increases for college," Easley said.

Easley made his comments to reporters this morning after a meeting of state elected officials.

"It's not only unacceptable, but it's just puzzling to me how they can be that far off the mark," Easley said.

The House's proposed budget did away with Easley's proposed sin taxes increases on cigarettes and alcohol which would have paid for teacher raises and other items. Instead the House's first draft raises certain fees.

More after the jump.

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Major pieces of the N.C. House's proposed state budget were released this morning, and they show more money for drop out prevention, a big cut for mental health community support services and a potential stumbling block for Gov. Mike Easley's More at Four pre-kindergarten education program.

The House would devote $15 million for drop out prevention grants to communities, more than double what is in the current state budget, Dan Kane reports. Nearly one out of every three students in North Carolina fail to graduate from high school, and state leaders are looking for ways to keep more students in school.

House budget writers also cut more than $86 million from the mental health community support program.

A recent News & Observer series on the state's mental health services reported roughly $400 million in waste in that program. The cut is $65 million more than Easley had sought in his $21.5 billion state budget proposal.

Easley's senior budget adviser, Dan Gerlach, said the governor will not sit for the way House members funded More at Four.

Correction: An earlier version of this post misstated the cuts.

More after the jump.

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