House releases parts of budget

ryanteaguebeckwith — Thu, 29 May 2008 16:30:17 -0400

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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House releases parts of budget