state budget

Perdue pitches tax increase in Charlotte.

Perdue in Charlotte

North Carolina failed to approach this precipice because of the treason
of the Party of Five. Minnesota has it better: the fiscal year is beginning
and there is no state budget (for any department except Agriculture).
Like us, they have a Democratic governor facing a Republican legislature
and a gay marriage amendment going on the ballot in 2012. Unlike us,
they do not have 5 traitors. So Democratic Gov. Dayton's veto of the
budget was NOT over-ridden, and his petition to the appropriate judge
to keep essential functions open despite the fact that there is no legally
appropriate funding for them was granted. Decent people can hope this
remains relevant ONLY until such time as the legislature comes to its senses.

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/06/13/minnesota-govern...

Could Judge Howard Manning rule that the state budget cuts in education are in violation of the Leandro ruling?

The teaching fellows program will no longer be funded after this group of freshmen. The teacher Academy is no longer funded, Principal fellows the same. Even the Science Oympiad funds (pocket change) were cut out. Textbook, staff development, driver education and instructional supply funding have been drastically slashed. The list goes on and on.

Chris Fitzsimon of NC Policy Watch takes NC Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger to task over claims that cuts to the education budget will not harm classrooms and that NC's low high school graduation rate proves that the system is broken. With teachers and assistants losing their jobs to budget cuts every day, Fitzsimon writes, "... any superintendent or principal can tell him that his talking point about protecting teachers is off base." Furthermore [links added],

3,200 UNC System employees lose their jobs under the budget that currently sits on Governor Perdue's desk.

Backers of the budget cuts argue that at a time where unemployment is at near record levels and the state is facing a 3 billion dollar deficit cuts need to be made. By slashing education and other vital public institutions instead of keeping the current sales tax level, the legislature claims to be protecting economic development in NC. They fail to recognize the fundamental role education plays in economic development.

 
@ncgovoffice yfrog.com/h265tjij
 

Today Haywood County Democrats held a protest in front of the courthouse on Main Street in Waynesville.

WLOS video and report on today's Democrat rally on the courthouse lawn.

An update to last week's post, "Everyone knows mass transit is key: CLT, Raleigh GOPers scramble to assure constituents."

The funding for light-rail projects in Charlotte is back -- at the request of Speaker Tillis. Why? Because everyone knows mass transit is key. You can tell by the way the GOPers scrambled to explain the potential cuts to their Charlotte and Raleigh metro constituents. Lordy be... there's a good feeling that comes 'round from being right.

More after the jump...

(Crossposted from Sex, Cash & Politics)

A new study from the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis (HCRA) at the university’s School of Public Health provides as much reason as we’ve ever had before to support efforts to build public and mass transit systems.

Just as the North Carolina Senate unveils and debates their Charlotte-light-rail-stripping proposals — and as Charlotte and Raleigh GOP politicians scramble to assure their constituents that such projects are still viable — this new study shows a direct correlation between increased traffic congestion and public health costs stemming from premature deaths and other health risks resulting from air pollution caused by vehicle emissions, in particular fine particulate matter (PM2.5), sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx).

At Campaign for America's Future, Dave Johnson quotes Naomi Klein's "Shock Doctrine," reminding us that back in 1993 Canada faced its own debt crisis. So dire that when Moodys analyst Vincent Truglia issued a favorable report on the Canadian economy, Truglia says, “one Canadian... from a very large financial institution in Canada called me up on the telephone screaming at me, literally screaming at me.” Why?