EdNC. Essential education news. Important stories. Your voice.

Search ednc.org

While other states decimate education budgets, North Carolina Republicans hold strong

Share this story

Our republishing policy

EdNC is a nonprofit, online, daily, independent newspaper. All of EdNC’s content is open source and free to republish. Please use the following guidelines when republishing our content.
  • Our content must be republished in full. If your organization uses a paywall, the content must be provided in full for free.
  • Credit our team by including both the author name and EdNC.org in the byline. Example: Alex Granados, EdNC.org.
  • If republishing the story online, please provide a link to EdNC.org or a link to the original article in either the byline or credit line.
  • The original headline of the article must be used. Allowable edits to the content of the piece include changes to meet your publication’s style guide and references to dates (i.e. this week changed to last week). Other edits must be approved by emailing Hannah Vinueza McClellan at [email protected].
  • Photos and other multimedia elements (audio, video, etc.) may not be republished without prior permission. Please email Hannah Vinueza McClellan at [email protected] if you are interested in sharing a multimedia element.
  • If you republish a story, please let us know by emailing Hannah Vinueza McClellan at [email protected].
Please email Hannah Vinueza McClellan at [email protected] if you have any questions. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Canonical tag

Please include the following canonical tag in the <head> of the republished story.

<link rel="canonical" href="https://www.ednc.org/while-other-states-decimate-education-budgets-north-carolina-republicans-hold-strong/">

HTML content

This includes the title, byline, content, and tracking pixel required for republishing this story.

Copy & paste HTML
This story is tagged:

The following is a press release from Sen. Deanna Ballard, R-Watauga

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the General Assembly has appropriated more than $700 million in additional CARES Act funding for education, including authorizing nearly $400 million from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund. 

While other states like Arkansas, California, Colorado, Missouri, and Ohio are cutting or deferring funding for K-12 education, North Carolina has been able to stay the course and maintain healthy education funding levels. 

“For nearly a decade the Republicans in the General Assembly have methodically and thoughtfully increased education spending,” Sen. Deanna Ballard (R-Watauga) said. “Now, facing the reality of a recession, instead of furloughing teachers and cutting education budgets like the North Carolina Democrats did during the last recession, we’ve held the line and kept education funding steady, provided pay raises and bonuses for teachers.” 

During the last recession, Gov. Beverly Perdue’s state budget proposal cut spending on public schools by 3.2 percent and counted on one-time money from the federal government to make up the difference. 

“At least Gov. Perdue provided the General Assembly a proposal during the last recession,” Sen. Ballard said. “If Gov. Cooper is waiting and wishing for the federal government to give more one-time funding, that’s not a smart budgeting strategy. He has had nearly $96 million at his fingertips since May. … And it’s still unspent.” The General Assembly has provided funding for: 

  • $75 million for school nutrition programs 
  • $1 million for equipping buses with Wi-Fi
  • $11 million for additional Wi-Fi access in homes and across communities 
  • $35 million for electronic devices to access remote learning
  • $10 million for mental health support services 
  • $70 million for summer learning programs  
  • $1.5 million for Learning Management System Licenses 
  • $3 million for non-digital remote instruction resources 
  • $20 million for children with exceptional needs
  • $7 million for Personal Protective Equipment
  • $9 million for the GREAT Program to expand broadband internet access in under-served communities