Bringing Raleigh Home
From the Office of N.C. Sen. Steve Goss
45th Senatorial District
RALEIGH
Last week, the Senate passed a budget that fits these tough economic times — it cuts state spending while still protecting jobs, education, and the health and safety of North Carolinians.
The Senate budget was approved 32-16 with bipartisan support. With the recession pushing the budget shortfall into the billions, we’ve known we must find ways to do more with less. I believe that the strategic cuts we were forced to make were balanced with initiatives that will keep North Carolina moving forward.
We considered job creation the top priority for any increases, and we worked to avoid cutting those things that help our economy. To help small businesses, we have $11 million in initiatives that will help keep them open and grow. We are including $5 million for the Green Business Fund to help environmentally-friendly business and industry to grow in NC, and a new plan to help struggling small businesses keep their doors open in this tough economy.
We also worked to protect and reform education. We are providing public school teachers with their annual pay increase based on years of service — we know there’s nothing more important to a student’s success than the quality of their teachers. We are reforming our state’s required testing so that teachers and students can focus more on learning and less on testing.
The Senate budget increases the class size funding allocation by two students per class. This will result in savings of more than $320 million per year and will help alleviate pressure local school systems are facing to build new schools. This was not an easy decision and it is a temporary one, but it allowed us to avoid other cuts to the classroom that would cause deep and lasting damage to our students.
To boost higher education, this budget avoids tuition hikes for community colleges. It provides funding for instructional equipment and technology at community colleges, which are essential for job training and re-training. We are offering more financial aid at our universities and we are investing in engineering, scientific research, and technology at our universities–helping our students compete in a knowledge-based economy.
In good times and in challenging times, government has a responsibility to the people of North Carolina to protect their health and safety. This budget expands Health Choice to cover 15,000 more kids whose parents make too much to qualify for Medicaid, but too little to afford insurance. We are also expanding health care access for the uninsured and low-income North Carolinians, and we’re hiring additional school nurses across the state.
Working families are also in danger now more than ever of losing their homes, so this budget protects the Home Protection program to keep laid-off workers from home foreclosure and it maintains the Housing Trust Fund. We also worked to keep our communities safe with funds to improve the probation system, support gang intervention programs, and funds to improve emergency communication equipment for first responders.
Additional information on the Senate budget can be found on the General Assembly’s Web site. The budget report is at
http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session2009&BillIDs202
The House of Representatives will now consider the budget.
Feel free to contact me to share your opinions on any issue you feel is important.
For more information and comment, call Steve Goss at 828-265-2943 or go to www:SenatorSteveGoss.com.
North Carolina Senate
1118 Legislative Building
Raleigh, NC 27601-2808
919-733-5742
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