School Districts Differ On Budget Impact For Teachers

GREENVILLE, N.C. - Governor Perdue made her first public appearance since the republican majority in the General Assembly delivered a budget to her desk.

She remained critical of the cuts to education while in Pitt County today.  Perdue maintains jobs will be lost while republicans say no.

So, who's right about the jobs?

Jobs in the classroom are the most sensitive issue when it comes to education funding.  Despite all the talk in Raleigh, these decisions are ultimately made by the school districts themselves.

It's a $19.7 billion budget with almost $11 billion set aside for all levels of education.  Republicans say they gave the governor almost everything she wanted for schools even if it's  $250 million short.

"It protects the classroom, protects education overall in North Carolina," said Sen. Phil Berger, (R) Senate President Pro Tempore.

Governor Perdue says she needs to read the budget in full before deciding whether to use her veto.  She doesn't accept the idea that republicans met her halfway.

"I refuse to be part of 50%," said Gov. Bev Perdue.

One thing the budget does is pass on $428 million in cuts for school districts to decide what to eliminate, $124 million of that republicans added on to what they already knew was coming.  For Pitt County, that means losing $6.8 million. 

"While the voice out of Raleigh is we honor the governor's request,” said Pitt County School District Superintendent Beverly Reep.  “We're not cutting teachers.  We're not cutting teacher assistants.  You can't pass almost 7 million dollars in reductions back to us and not impact the classroom."

Reep says her district's running so lean there's no money for textbooks.  Math books for grades 6 – 12 are eight years old and the district spent $35,000 a year ago for new bindings to keep them in use.  Replacing them would cost $1 million.  She admits the cuts aren't the worst case scenario the district started planning for in march.

Onslow County schools also have a $6.8 million cut heading their way.  The sentiment there is the district won't have to fire anyone if jobs are eliminated.

"A high number of teachers that resign, relocate that we aren't as concerned about the reduction in the number of teachers," said Onslow County School District Superintendent Barry Collins.

Remember Duplin County?  It was the first school district in Eastern Carolina to announce major layoffs last month.  Duplin cut 210 jobs, 120 of them in the classroom.

The district now says it has to figure out what to do with another $700,000 in cuts that didn't factor into those layoffs.  No decision's been made there yet, but more layoffs are possible.

---Prior Story--- 

GREENVILLE, N.C. - North Carolina republicans are one vote away in the Senate from sending the budget to the House of Representatives.

Governor Perdue fired back Wednesday warning that local school districts across the state stand to lose $428 million his year because of it.  Most of that $428 million was already a done deal.  Lawmakers adopted $304 million of it last year.  The remaining $124 million is in the republican proposal.

School districts in Eastern Carolina would have to cut a total of $34.6 million.  Here are the districts in the region the Department of Public Instruction says would take the biggest hit:

Onslow County: $6,848,850

Pitt County: $6,823,649

Wilson County: $3,532,180

Duplin County: $2,670,715

Lenoir County: $2,670,715 

Republicans are on track to push this through.  By the numbers, the Senate budget slashes more than $900 million from education.  Of that, $460 million comes from public schools.

The proposal transfers the “More at Four” pre-school program out of the Department of Public Instruction to the Department of Health and Human Services.  Yet, it adds $61 million specifically for first through third grade teachers.  Republicans justify the cuts by saying public schools aren't producing quality graduates.

"Those people who want to defend the status quo and say continue to throw the same amount of money at a failing system are the ones that really need to explain themselves even more," said Sen. Phil Berger, (R) President Pro Tempore.

Governor Perdue disagrees.

"Nobody in North Carolina that you talk to wants their children's education to be less than they had," said Governor Bev Perdue.

Neither side disputes the numbers in the budget.  They're at odds on the effects.  The Governor maintains 9,200 public school positions would be cut, including 3,400 teachers.  Republicans insist all those jobs are safe.  Perdue is resigned to the fact this will likely wind up on her desk.  The question is what she will do with it once it gets there.

"I'm not a veto threatener, but I've said if it does harm to public schools, teachers and teacher's assistants and to education, I can't sign the budget,” Perdue said.  “I'd be the first Governor in the history of the state to turn my back on education."

It seems at the very least the Governor won't sign it.  She told us her mind is almost made up about a veto or not. 

The real decisions about jobs will fall on the districts themselves.  They've been making contingency plans for months now.  This information came out too late today to get their response.