Education Funding – North Carolina

Rich schools, poor schools: N.C.’s gap may be growing, By Jane Stancill, June 20, 2011, Charlotte Observer: “North Carolina’s 1.5 million public school children depend on the state to pay the majority of their educational costs, but that long-held tradition may be changing. What started as the state’s promise during the Great Depression has eroded during the Great Recession. Lawmakers, facing gaping state budget shortfalls in the past two years, began to force cuts onto local school districts. That so-called discretionary reduction was $225 million two years ago and $305 million last year, both actions taken by a Democratic-led legislature. Now the state’s budget reduction has grown to $429 million for public schools and charter schools – with the Republican-led legislature cutting another $124 million. The cuts were contained in the budget that passed last week after a lengthy political fight over education spending with Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue. The GOP-controlled legislature overrode the governor’s veto, and the $19.7 billion budget plan became law…”