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.
—————
While the House budget proposal expands More at Four by $23 million to pick up an additional 4,184 children for a total of nearly 33,000 served, the funding is not recurring, which means advocates would have to fight for it in the next budget year.
"More at Four money can't be nonrecurring," Gerlach said.
Easley's proposal had also called for more money — $45 million to add 6,345 more children.
Some parts of the budget still have to be released, particularly funding and borrowing provisions for construction projects, and money for state raises.
Rep. Mickey Michaux, a Durham Democrat and chief budget writer, said House leaders have tentatively agreed to giving teachers and school administrators a three percent raise and all other state employees a 2.75 percent raise or $1,100, which ever is greater. Retirees would receive a 2.2 percent cost of living increase.
The budget items released today could still be changed by House leaders before they release their full budget proposal, tentatively set for Monday, with votes by budget committee members and the full chamber expected next week.
Blog RSS feed
