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Posted on 07/25/2002 7:00:57 AM PDT by jern
Easley: Hire 1,200 more teachers
Raleigh Bureau
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RALEIGH - Gov. Mike Easley ordered schools to hire more than 1,200 teachers for the coming school year Wednesday, even though lawmakers haven't given him the money to pay them.
His order -- which puts 6,000 more at-risk 4-year-olds into classrooms and reduces class sizes statewide for kindergartners and first-graders -- will cost the state $54 million this year.
It comes as lawmakers are waging partisan, election-year battles over state budget cuts. And it sends local school leaders scrambling to hire teachers for classrooms set to open within weeks.
Easley justified his move by citing a recent order from a Wake County Superior Court judge that the state improve its schools. He also said he wants the hires to be made before the start of the school year.
"If we don't do it this week, it's not going to be done until next year," the governor said. "The 4-year-olds have to have the teachers now. Four-year-olds don't have but one chance to be 4."
The order drew quick criticism from House Republican leader Leo Daughtry, R-Johnston, who said the governor was expanding programs "that don't even exist, without any authority other than his own decision."
Easley said delays by lawmakers in passing a budget forced his hand. He defended his authority, saying the current budget -- passed late last year when the state's economy looked better -- included money for adding teachers. Easley's order would add 900 teachers to reduce class sizes in the early grades, and 333 for his More at Four pre-kindergarten program. He says such additions would comply with the Superior Court Judge Howard Manning's demand that the state provide a "sound basic education" for all children.
The executive order was Easley's second move to make major budget changes in a week. Last Thursday, he cut 1,300 filled and 1,300 vacant state employee jobs to help save the state money.
The Democratic leaders, who control much of the House budget process because of their party's 62-58 majority, back Easley's programs, but they also need to find as much as $300 million to stave off deep cuts to state-run health programs and to prison jobs.
Charlotte-area school leaders are now trying to figure out how many hires they can make. Vaughn Sprinkle, chairman of the Iredell-Statesville school board, wonders if his district will see any of those new teachers.
"How far will that go?" Sprinkle asked, noting his district will welcome any help the state can give.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district now runs two More at Four classrooms -- one at Highland Elementary and one at Childcare Network, a child-care provider in Charlotte.
The district also runs Bright Beginnings, its own preschool literacy program for 4-year-olds. Easley's order would not benefit that program.
The CMS staff is still reviewing Easley's order, but Superintendent James Pughsley said in a statement that the order "focuses on some of the key areas we have been addressing in CMS for several years -- reduced class size and preschool education."
Jerry Thomas, superintendent of Union County Public Schools, said he believes strongly in reducing class sizes and preparing children early for school. But, he said, "It would be important for us to know how this relates to the total budget picture. Is the governor going to pick and choose which parts of the budget will be supported? That's of concern."
Lawmakers also are trying to figure out how Easley's order fits into the rest of the budget. House Democratic leaders are still trying to come up with enough money to pay for state health programs, schools and prisons, despite the fact that tax revenues have dropped significantly with the economic slowdown.
The House is scheduled to vote on $167 million in new taxes today. Most of the money comes from closing loopholes in the corporate tax structure. The rest comes from delaying a child-care tax credit and a credit for married couples who pay disproportionally more than single taxpayers in state taxes each year. The new taxes still would not be enough to pay for Easley's programs and other Democratic priorities.
While the Democrats are still wooing Republican tax opponents to support the tax bill, they believe they've reached a compromise with Republicans and a few liberal Democrats on a plan to give cities, counties and towns some money the state has seized to balance its budget during the past two years.
The state usually budgets pay-outs to local governments to make up for an array of taxes that were repealed more than a decade ago.
A House subcommittee has approved a plan to give a half-penny of the state's 6.5 percent sales tax to local governments starting Jan. 1. In exchange, the state would stop giving out the reimbursement money. The tax swap would net the state $170 million this fiscal year and give the counties $160 million.
Assuming Mecklenburg County adopted the sales tax, it would receive about $11.4 million, less than the $24.4 million it would have gotten from the reimbursements.
"It's better than nothing," said county commissioners Vice Chair Becky Carney. "I would hope that it would help make counties whole, but I think at this stage of the game, we take we can get."
Charlotte would receive about $5.4 million, rather than the $13.8 million it usually got from reimbursements. This money would go into capital projects, leaving extra money in the capital reserve fund, said assistant budget director Ruffin Hall.
Gaston County Manager Jan Winters said losing about $4 million by not getting back all of the county's sales tax money is not acceptable. It could still mean layoffs, officials said.
Winters said losing the money was "a back-breaker." "That would be horrible, if not devastating, to us," he said. "We made a lot of cuts before we got to where we are."
The funny thing is I don't see any other North Carolinians calling Dolt out to a streetfight over the lies she has told in her campaign ads. Remember the claim that she worked in a textile mill recently, and the one that her mother lives with her? How many North Carolinians do we see lined up to demand she either retract or provide the proof to support her fraudulant claims?
IMHO, anyone who would endorse or support Dole is no less guilty of being complicit to a lie, and deserves the respect of a liar.
Needless to say, WHATEVER is across from Dole, it/he/she will have my vote and if N.C. voters blindly put her in, we deserve all the deception she can dole out....
If you mean Hedley - no that was the Gov. LePetomane in the movie.
(can you tell I have it on DVD?)
I guess Mike Easley is a bigger idiot than I thought.... "don't have but one chance".
Our publik skuls at werk!
I won't be back on FR until tomorrow probably.
Have to go home & keep my daughter who is sick, then go to the dentist AND take my dog to the vet!
Whew!
.
doglot
Thanks for those links.
Since I had to leave early, I had no time to post them.
Will try tomorrow.
CD
May tommorrow dawn upon a healthy CD family. (I include the dog-our chihuahua is surely part of our family) If your dental appointment is a root canal-may it not be the Erie, Suez, Panama.............................................., if it is, mashed potatoes are not really that bad,...trust me.
Logically, you could enroll a kid as soon as he's potty trained....and he'd graduate even sooner.
I went to the first day, came home, sighed, and expressed relief that THAT was over.
She told me I had to go back the next day.
I was shocked.
Now, 25 years later, we've all learned a lot... my youngest brothers have schooled at home, we teach at home with our kids, and Mom says had she realized it was legal to school at home back then, she never would have sent her children "into the world" at all, preferring to keep us with her and explore the world together!
Government school simply cannot be expected to adapt to the individuality of our children. It is no surprise that these programs are moving toward younger and younger children: catch them when they're formative, and you stand a better chance of erasing that individuality, which makes them much easier to handle in large groups. No preschool would have met my need to read at three. No Jr. K program would have nurtured my daughter's desire to bake and cook REAL food at 3. No first grade classroom that I've seen would tolerate her desire to TALK about everything, and ask endless questions, and try new things.
By the by (proud Mom moment), she just wrote her first book. It's about flowers, called "The Lilexe" (say it phonetically, and you get it), and is officially "Rot.Bi.Elizzabeth" Even has a review section at the end. (And, I'm impressed... I couldn't spell our name until I was nearly 10. LOL)
Homeschooling is legal in the discussed state, too... liberate your kids from the government schools!
Regards,
We have several "conservatives" freepers who actually insist Bob Barr and Jesse Helms are too liberal for them, but a guy like Sen. Zell Miller (conservative rating = 60% = Olympia Snowe) is a great principled conservative who they would vote for in a heartbeat.
I guess according to their standard, Democrats are ALLOWED to be unpredictable, flip-flopping "moderates", but EVERY Republican has to vote EXACTLY like Ron Paul or he's not worthy of their (or anyone else's) support. In order words, Republicans must think EXACTLY LIKE THEM to qualify for office. This from the types who lecture everyone about "liberty" and "freedom". Yeah, a congress where all 435 members are Ron Paul CLONES because otherwise they'd be voted out. Sounds free to me.
But given the way they hold Democrats in HIGHER esteem and to much EASIER standards, it's pretty obvious as to which party these guys are members of. Many of them have even admitted it.
As for holding candidates, regardless of party, to the SAME standard of smaller government, that's fine with me if you want to. By that standard, our nominee for the U.S. Senate (and the previous two for that matter) here in "liberal" Illinois makes him far better than the Liddy Doles, John Warners, and Thad Cochrane's running for office in states with these "hoiler-than-thou" types who always scream how great their state is. His website is down because it's undergoing a facelift but I have a copy of his platform right here. See for yourself:
Jim Durkin platform 
*Believe in the 2nd amendment--Respects the constiutional right of gun owners to protect themselves and their families and to enjoy recreational activities.
*Secure our national borders through strong immigration controls and provide the INS with the tools it needs to enforce our immigration laws.
*Act to immediately drastically reduce the marginal tax rates across the board as well as the capital gains tax to spur spending and investment.
*Repeal the personal alternative minimum tax that affects a growing number of middle class families with deductions like children and dependents.
*Opposes all income tax increases
*Facilitate full exploration in ANWR and other domestic sources to break our reliance on OPEC and foreign sourced oil.
*Provide real school choice through local competition with private schools so all children have access to the best quality education available.
*Reduce unnecessary federal red tape to allow parents and teachers to do their jobs with accountable local control.
*Implement a national missile defense system to protect our country against attacks from rogue nations
*Overturn unconstitutional "death penalty moritorum" proposals and enforse capital punishment laws as the only appropriate punishment for henious crimes and people like Timothy McVeigh.
*Strengthen our military and rebuild our intelligence capabilities.
*End all public funding of abortion
*Will vote for an amendment to overturn Roe v. Wade and return power to the states
*Will filibuster the Ryan-Daley O'Hare expansion backroom "deal" for its violation of states rights [right of the Illinois legislature to decide local airport issues]
*Opposed airline bailout bill
*Will fight to cut pork and give government back to the people
LOL....my son was also shocked that he had to go back AGAIN.
Great post! The first five years of a child's life should be spent with their parents. Pushing them out of the nest too soon has it's consequences. I've met third graders who are already jaded.
That comes to $9,000 per child. It would be cheaper to just mail the parents a check and have them go to a private preschool.
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