Gov. Beverly Perdue proposes to raise per-pupil spending $139.
At a presentation this morning, Perdue proposed raising per-student spending from $5,597 to $5,736, putting specifics on a pledge she first made at her State of the State speech.
As expected, Perdue would achieve that in two ways: Fewer students and more federal money.
The drop is partly caused by a change in kindergarten age requirements. The budget says overall enrollment is expected to decline by .79 percent.
Perdue also expects $581 million from the federal stimulus package to be used on education.
Overall, education spending would increase by $118 million in Perdue's budget, including $64 million for teacher pay raises, $6.7 million for dropout prevention, $4.7 million for more diagnostic testing of students and $3.5 million for underperforming schools.
At the same time, the state would cut funding for buying textbooks, replacing older school buses and running multicampus community college centers. It would raise fees on some continuing education courses.
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