Republicans pitch $590m in cuts

That's pretty much what she did. A friend of mine who works high in one department said that each department was told they had 95% of last year's salary budget. Up to them to determine how to spend it.

First, let me commend Berger and Stam for coming out of the usual dodge and specifying what they would cut, in numbers sufficient to have some meaning to the overall budget gap.

Second, it's clear that they're both lawyers and not teachers. With even my limited teaching experience, I can tell them that denying the educational benefit of smaller class sizes will get them laughed out of any gathering of teachers (and most gatherings of parents). And contrary to their assertion, there is ample research proof of the effectiveness of smaller class sizes in boosting student learning.

So let's recap: Democratic leaders want to fund education. Republican leaders want to cut education so as to cut taxes. It's about as straightforward as I've ever seen it--and an absolutely fair summary of the difference between Democratic and Republican state leadership today. Thank you, gentlemen!

Well for one thing the state needs to get out of subsidizing business period. It's atrocious that a company can basically "bargain" it's tax rates when locating somewhere. If all 50 states would adopt this attitude then it would end this massive "race to the bottom" of every locality willing to subsidize businesses that leave at the next better offer leaving locals with the tax burden and infrastructure payments. Think about this? Do you get to negotiate your property and income taxes when YOU move somewhere based on YOUR potential economic impact?? Also we need to look at athletics in education Why is so much money spent on this? And why are tax payers forced to subsidize privately funded sports businesses (NFL, NBA, NHL, etc)through college athletics, and paying for stadium construction? There is plenty of money out there. As Americans we just need to make certain things a priority and insist our government treat everybody equally and quit picking favorites.

Come On Republicans, Didn't Governor Arnold in California end up agreeing to increased revenues?

"""Senate Republican Leader Phil Berger of Eden and House Republican Leader Paul Stam of Apex said the biggest savings — $300 million a year — would come from increasing class sizes in public schools by two students. That would bring the average class size to 23, they said."""

I do not know if these are realistic figures but saving $300 million just by increasing class sizes by 2 students is phenominal. This sounds almost as good as hitting the lottery.

If we increase class sizes by 4 students would it save $600 million?

They are right about class sizes; in fact, a report from the State Board of Education found no statistical evidence that smaller class sizes raised student achievement.

bendal said
Ok, that's half a billion dollars in cuts; where do the Republicans think the remaining $2.5 BILLION dollars will come from to balance the budget?

First of All! The republican leadship hasn't the foggest idea where to cut besides being a puppet of the National Republicans leadership which does not exsist nor trusted by the American voters anymore.

If one wants to balance the budget of North Carolina and it's 3.6 billion grap, One should start by reducing all salaries of Government employees by 50% which should be the State Colleges Profs and the educational leadership of those Universities.

Wow! That means Profs will be making only 50 thousand a year instead of 125 thousand a year!

Ok, that's half a billion dollars in cuts; where do the Republicans think the remaining $2.5 BILLION dollars will come from to balance the budget?