What North Carolina’s New State Budget Means for Education
Education is North Carolina’s economic engine – it’s how we’ve created and attracted businesses to North Carolina in the past and it’s how we’ll stay a global leader in the future.
This year, legislators in Raleigh voted to cut almost $1 billion per year from our education budget, which includes our K-12 public schools, our community colleges and our public universities.
Total Reduction to the Education Budget: $923 million in FY 12; $926 million in FY 13.
What It Means For Public Schools:
- More students will be shared among fewer educators, as more than 3,000 teachers and 2,000 teachers’ assistants will likely lose their jobs.
- Schools will have older textbooks, fewer supplies and dirtier classrooms due to large cuts in non-instructional support personnel and resources.
- Funding for community-based dropout prevention efforts, like tutoring and after school programs, will cease.
What It Means For UNC:
- Fewer students will be able to afford going to college, due to large cuts in financial aid and increases in tuition.
- Academic opportunities will be limited for our students, as entire departments will be eliminated at many UNC schools.
- Students will receive less support and attention, as 2700 faculty are expected to lose their jobs.
What It Means For Community Colleges:
- Many students won’t be able to access classes necessary for their degrees because of reduced course offerings.
- Tuition will increase by $10.50 per credit hour in the first year and reach $12.50 in the second.
- Over 1000 faculty are expected to lose their jobs.
This was a choice: By maintaining the temporary tax package, which included the penny sales tax increase and a surcharge on high-income households and companies, or by including long-term revenue solutions in their budget, all of these cuts to education could have been avoided.
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