Constituent Update
By N.C. Sen. AUSTIN M. ALLRAN
42nd Senate District
Week No. 2 of the 2009-2010 legislative session brought bad fiscal news. With a sobering Revenue and Budget Outlook update from the Fiscal Research Division of the General Assembly reporting a $2 billion budget shortfall, Republican senators spent much of this week looking at ways to balance the budget.
Legislators also learned that the state health plan, that provides insurance for approximately 667,000 state employees and retirees, needs $1.2 billion over the next two years to survive.
Senators were given their committee assignments this week. My committees appointments are Agriculture/Environment/Natural Resources; vice chair, Education, Finance, Health Care; Judiciary II, vice chair; and reappointed to the Legislative Research Commission.
The American Legislative Exchange Council, a non-partisan organization made up of state legislators from across the country, this week released the results of its nationwide education ranking. North Carolina was ranked 30th based on fourth- and eight-grade math and reading scores as well as SAT and ACT scores.
The report notes that although education spending has increased over the years, the results are stagnating. At a press conference Tuesday, Senate and House Republicans discussed North Carolina’s ranking and advocated for the following reforms in education:
• Require the use of national normed testing to provide consistency in measuring academic progress.
• Reward our best teachers with merit and differential pay.
• Enhance career, technical and vocation programs in high schools.
• Eliminate the current cap on public charter schools to give families a choice in their children’s education.
With Democrats in charge of the governor’s mansion and both bodies of the General Assembly, Republicans urged Democrat leaders to allow an up or down vote on these education priorities.
You can keep up with legislation introduced in Senate and House and check on the status of bills at http://www.ncleg.net.
You can also listen in on proceedings and look up all members of the General Assembly at the site.
Contact Sen. Allran at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
