This Week at the Legislature
The State’s $24 billion budget impasse is now in its fourth month, with no sign of negotiations taking place between Democratic Governor Roy Cooper and the General Assembly’s Republican leadership. The only meaningful budget talks have been between the House and the Senate.
House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate Leader Phil Berger mentioned separately to the media this week that teacher pay is something that they plan to address. The Speaker told a group of reporters that “the education budget is moving along right now.“ Moore added that he’s working on a proposal that would provide teachers and non-certified employees a higher pay increase than what was in the budget that the General Assembly sent to the Governor in June. Since both chambers announced that no bills will be voted on next week, we likely won’t hear more specifics before October 21.
To view the Speaker’s interview that touches on K-12, community college, and university faculty pay, along with several other topics, click here.
Also this week, the legislature introduced two more mini budget bills to the mix:
- HB 399: Extend Tax Credits/Other Finance Changes – passed by the Senate and sent to the House
- SB 61: Community Colleges Budget/2019-2021 Biennium – passed by the House and sent to the Senate
- Appropriates funds for the Community College System’s operations, but not for employee salaries
- Appropriates funds for the Career Coaches program that places career coaches employed by local community colleges in partnering high schools
Three other mini budget bills were sent to the Governor this week:
- HB 100: DOT Budget for 2019-2020 Biennium
- HB 387: Growing G.R.E.A.T. (broadband funding)
- HB 1001: Raise the Age Funding (courts funding)
So far this session the Governor has signed nine mini budget bills into session law.
School Safety Grant Program Deadline
The 2019-2020 School Safety Grant Program application has been released and can be found on the Comprehensive Continuous Improvement Plan (CCIP) grants management system: ccip.schools.nc.gov. To apply, log into the system with your NCID, select your school system, and select the grant application under “Safe Schools.”
The grant competition closes on October 25, 2019 at 11:59 pm. Below are tips and resources for the application process.
- View a preview of the application
- Review Parts II and III of Session Law 2019-222
- Check FAQs for the grant program, which will be updated periodically
- Email schoolsafetygrants@dpi.nc.gov with any additional questions
New General Assembly Members
Below are the four newest General Assembly members. We encourage our local school board members to reach out and begin networking with their newly appointed legislators.
Senator Rob Bryan, R-Mecklenburg
Appointed: 10/2/19
Replaced: Dan Bishop, R-Mecklenburg
Representative Perrin Jones, R-Pitt
Appointed: 9/25/19
Replaced: Greg Murphy, R-Pitt
Representative Jake Johnson, R-Polk, Henderson, Transylvania
Appointed: 8/2/19
Replaced: Cody Henson, R-Transylvania
Representative Jeffrey McNeely, R-Iredell
Appointed: 7/5/19
Replaced: Rena Turner, R-Iredell
Next Week
The Governor’s Commission on Access to Sound Basic Education will hold a conference call meeting on Monday, October 14. Public attendees can listen to the conference call from the EIC room in the NC Department of Transportation building. Click here for additional meeting information.
Since both the House and the Senate will not be holding voting sessions next week, NCSBA will not be sending out a weekly Legislative Update on Friday, October 18.
Leanne E. Winner
Director of Governmental Relations
N.C. School Boards Association
(919) 747-6686
Bruce Mildwurf
Associate Director of Governmental Relations
N.C. School Boards Association
(919) 747-6692
Richard Bostic
Assistant Director of Governmental Relations
N.C. School Boards Association
(919) 747-6677
Rebekah Howard
Governmental Relations Research Specialist
N.C. School Boards Association
(919) 747-6688