In the 2012-13 budget she unveiled last week, Gov. Bev Perdue proposed funds to restore education cuts the Republican-controlled General Assembly passed last year. The proposal would mean an additional $6,766,579 for K-12 schools in Rowan-Salisbury next year.
In last year’s budget, the Republican-controlled General Assembly cut K-12 spending in North Carolina by approximately $459 million, or 5.8 percent. After the cuts, local schools were forced to eliminate 915 teachers, more than 2,000 teacher assistants, and nearly 5,000 total educators across North Carolina.
As damaging as those cuts have been, schools were shielded from the full impact of those cuts by $258 million of temporary federal “EduJobs” money. The federal EduJobs money enabled North Carolina schools to keep some of the teachers, teacher assistants and other education professionals that would otherwise have been cut.
In Rowan-Salisbury, K-12 schools received approximately $4,328,025 in federal EduJobs money during this school year. Those funds supported real jobs — teachers, teacher assistants, and other education personnel — in school buildings across Rowan-Salisbury. That federal money — which was designed to help states deal with declining revenue associated with the economic downturn — goes away later this year.
Statewide, Perdue’s budget calls for a net increase of more than $562 million in K-12 school funding over what is currently planned for next year. Her budget includes $503 million to restore the LEA flex cut made last year, as well as other investments, like a small pay increase for teachers. Perdue’s office estimated that her proposal will save or create approximately 11,000 education positions across North Carolina next year.