skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

State Budget Still in Flux at a Cost of Millions to Taxpayers

play audio
Play

Monday, August 24, 2015   

GREENSBORO, N.C. - North Carolina lawmakers have missed the deadline to pass a budget by eight weeks. According to published reports, it costs the state an extra $42,000 for every day the Legislature meets and there is still no firm budget in place for the next fiscal year.

Logan Smith, communications director at Progress NC Action, says based on those figures, the state has spent more than $1.3 million as a result of the missed deadline, while state agencies live in limbo.

"Every agency, every program in the state, that is paid for by the state is really having to make decisions about their new fiscal year budget based on, right now, guesswork," says Smith.

As of now, state House and Senate leaders have agreed to a budget that keeps state spending at 2010 levels, when unemployment was high and the Great Recession was still impacting the economy. Many Republican lawmakers argue the tight budget is a way to reduce waste and increase productivity with available resources.

As a result, it's unlikely state employees will receive raises and teacher pay will remain at the bottom nationally. Thousands of teacher assistants such as Melinda Zarate, spokesperson with the North Carolina Association of Teacher Assistants, could lose their jobs.

"Public education should be the priority in North Carolina," says Zarate. "That shouldn't be the last thing the legislators look at to fund, that should be, 'Let's fully fund public education, and then we'll see what's left over to work with.'"

Many school districts are unsure of how to budget for the coming year as students return to school since they are unclear about what money will be coming from the state. Smith says lawmakers should practice the principles being taught in North Carolina's schools.

"If a student habitually turns in work late, if they go eight weeks without turning in an assignment, they're going to get an F," he says. "But for lawmakers, there's no accountability."

Smith points out this is the longest budget delay in at least 13 years and it comes after lawmakers took a week-long vacation after missing their July first deadline.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021