The leadership in the General Assembly and Governor
Easley demonstrated statesmanship and uncommon political courage in giving our
state a sound, responsible budget.
Education represents 60 percent of the state’s
expenditures. Had the assembly failed to identify new revenues, our educational
system would have been devastated. Although the budget makes painful cuts to
education at all levels, it keeps the state’s educational capabilities
essentially intact at a time of rapidly growing enrollment.
It is true that the faculty of North Carolina’s
public universities, like all state employees, effectively took a pay cut
because a small salary increase was more than offset by a cut in benefits.
Nevertheless, the picture could easily have been much worse. We are grateful to
all legislators who gave the budget their support, and we applaud their
recognition of the importance of public education to the welfare of all North
Carolinians.
— Richard Veit
Wilmington
Editor’s note: The writer is chairman of the Faculty Assembly, University of North Carolina.
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