Fitzsimon File

More starting and stopping Wednesday in the General Assembly in the backrooms as House and Senate leaders continue their push for a final budget agreement. Deals are being made on pieces of the spending plan.  The education budget is settled and the plan to cuts services to the aged, blind and disabled is off the table.  Counties will not get any help with their share of Medicaid costs this year.

Rumors filled the building Wednesday, about a deal on the tobacco tax, then it was clear there was no deal with as many as 10 House Democrats stubbornly refusing to vote to save more kids lives by raising the tax by 35 cents.

The lottery is still up in the air as is the fate of an increase in the minimum wage and a proposal to lower the corporate income tax. Legislative leaders still think they can pass a plan by next Friday when the latest continuing resolution that keeps government operating will expire.

The push to reach an agreement is taking on a life of its own, and the news Monday that negotiators had resolved differences in education spending pointed out the problem that the drive to adjourn creates. 

Lawmakers agreed on funding for enrollment increases in public schools, community colleges, and universities and other education programs, and found some money for the disadvantaged schools supplemental fund to begin to address the judge’s ruling in the Leandro lawsuit.

But this education agreement cuts $47 million in funding in teaching assistants, reducing the number of adults in the classrooms in lower grades to help children. Who thinks that is a good idea?

But the deal is done and the news about the agreement was treated as a reason to celebrate. It is not. The point of the General Assembly session is not to pass a state budget and adjourn, it is to pass a good, progressive state budget that invests in people and then adjourn.  If for some reason lawmakers needed additional motivation, a national report released Wednesday ought to provide some.

North Carolina ranks 40th in the nation overall on ten indicators of child well-being according to a new study by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.  The areas measured included health, poverty, and education and North Carolina was below the national average in every one. The state is improving on many of the indicators, but not enough to significantly increase its ranking among other states.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, July 28th, 2005 at 11:57 am and is filed under Fitzsimon File. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.