North Carolina legislative leaders announced on Tuesday that a tentative deal has been reached for the long-awaited state budget.
Lawmakers held an afternoon news conference to discuss the deal. They announced that included in the deal is an average teacher pay raise of 8%, including bonuses based on length of service.
“It will take starting teachers to No. 1 in the South,” said House Speaker Destin Hall.
Keith Poston, president of WakeEd Partnership, said the news was encouraging, but more work remains to be done.
“If the reported teacher pay increases hold in the final budget, that represents meaningful progress and welcome recognition of the critical role educators play in our state’s future,” Poston said. “But while progress on compensation matters, the larger question is whether the final budget makes the kind of sustained investment needed for North Carolina to truly compete for and retain excellent teachers while strengthening the public schools that educate the overwhelming majority of our children. Progress deserves recognition, but it should also be measured against the scale of the challenges still facing our schools.”
There are also raises of varying degrees to state law enforcement, and a little more than $40 million toward local agencies to provide a one-time bonus.
Also of note is a change to the personal income tax rate, namely in how and when revenue triggers would go into effect.
Though there will be a drop in the rate starting next year, that will remain in place for at least three years, before another scheduled rate drop for an additional three years.
“Continuing to cut those taxes, but doing it responsibly,” Hall said. “And if you look back over the last 15 years again, since Republicans took control, you know, on average, that that rate is cut every two or three years, about a quarter point or so. And so, basically, what we’re doing here is continuing what we’ve done for the last 15 years.”
The corporate tax rate is untouched… and is set to hit 0% at the start of the next decade.
Senate Leader Phil Berger and Hall said that an agreement has been reached on “big issues.” With the framework intact, work will continue during the next several weeks to iron out the final spending figures.
Now the ball is in the court of appropriations chairs; there are also typically requested changes from government agencies, so this is not a done deal. Still, this is real momentum with key hurdles now cleared.
It was a major step forward after the House and Senate were engaged in a months-long stalemate.
Senate Democratic Leader Sydney Batch criticized the GOP-led announcement, noting that it came 316 days after the state’s budget deadline passed:
“Phil Berger said it himself today: this isn’t a budget. It’s a framework, with a ton of work left to do. And I am not about to give Republicans any credit for finally showing up to do the job they were elected to do after 316 days of delay and failure – especially when they still don’t have a full plan, and especially when, yet again, no Democrats were invited to the table to help build one,” Batch said. “Today, all Republicans did was hand North Carolinians a promise ring, swearing they’ll do better. Yeah, right. We all know how that story ends.”
In April, Gov. Josh Stein released his budget proposal. North Carolina is the only state in the nation without a newly adopted budget.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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