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2019-2021 State Budget
Governor Cooper’s 2019-2021 Budget Proposal
Governor Roy Cooper released his 2019-2021 fiscal biennium budget proposal on March 6th, titled Investments for a Determined North Carolina. It includes programs and funds to address many county legislative goals. In particular, the Governor’s proposed budget, along with the creation of a broadband task force, helps achieve the NCACC’s top two legislative goals for the biennium. A statewide bond proposal directs funds to K-12 and community college capital needs. The budget also increases grant funds for broadband access, increases funding for early childhood education, expands Medicaid, plans for Medicaid Transformation, and budgets to implement Raise the Age legislation. Further details are below, and the full budget document is located here.
K-12
- Includes $2 billion for K-12 school capital needs in the Governor’s $3.9 billion General Obligation Bond proposal, with each county receiving a minimum of $10 million. The full amounts each school district receives under the proposal are found here.
- Appropriates $15 million for building improvements related to safety and security at K-12 schools
- Raises teacher pay an average of 9.1 percent over two years and appropriates $6.8 million to restore Master’s pay for classroom teachers
- Includes $40 million in flexible funding for local school districts to hire more nurses, school counselors, psychologists, and social workers to directly support student mental health and to hire additional School Resource Officers
- Appropriates $5 million to fund programs to recruit, retain, and support North Carolina's public school educators, and includes an additional $5 million for teacher professional development
- Reduces funding for Opportunity Scholarship Grants (private school voucher) by $28.7 million as a gradual elimination of the program
Community Colleges
- Includes $500 million for community college capital needs in Governor’s $3.9 billion General Obligation Bond proposal
- Establishes $45 million NC GROW (Getting Ready for Opportunities in the Workforce) scholarship for students in high-demand curricula in fields with documented employer demand and competitive wages
- Establishes a $5 million grant program to help university and community college students on the cusp of graduating when unforeseen financial emergency threatens enrollment
- Increases funding by $11.2 million for short-term continuing education and workforce development courses leading to industry credentials
- Uses $107 million from a reserve fund to help prepare for the transition to managed care as part of Medicaid Transformation
- Expands Medicaid to 500,000 additional beneficiaries and appropriates $3.3 million this year and almost $75 million next year for the state share of expansion costs
- The early childhood education budget increases funding for NC Pre-K, Smart Start, and child care subsidies as follows:
- Expands pre-K slots using $16 million in lottery receipts
- Provides $15 million recurring and $5 million nonrecurring for Smart Start
- Creates 2,300 additional child care subsidy slots with $14.5 million nonrecurring funds
- Creates 11 new positions to help with child welfare training
- Creates a new Office of Health Opportunities to work on efforts to improve social determinants of health as part of Medicaid Transformation
- Provides $22 million for NC Fast operations, maintenance and project development. These funds include continued development of child welfare case management and development of 24/7 access and cloud-based computing to assist counties by helping to avoid system down time.
- Budget contains no single-stream reductions to LME/MCOs
- Increases the new GREAT broadband grant program from $10 to $30 million
- Appropriates $5 million for homework gap grants for high-speed internet service through laptop and tablet purchases and mobile hotspots
- Dedicates $10 million to the State Disaster and Recovery Fund
- Budgets $15 million for a statewide “eCourts” system for integrated case management statewide
- Provides $283,704 in funding for three new treatment/recovery courts
- Creates eight new emergency management positions
- Creates 13 new district courts positions to assist in new demands associated with raising the age of juvenile jurisdiction
- Includes $87,681 in the Indigent Defense budget for an additional Juvenile Defender
- Provides $27 million to the Department of Juvenile Justice for implementation of Raise the Age, including funding to support county Juvenile Crime Prevention Councils, contracts with juvenile detention centers and support positions for transportation of juvenile defendants
- Proposes a statewide bond that includes $800 million for water infrastructure projects
- Provides almost $6.4 million for equipment and 37 new staff to increase detection and prevention of environmental contamination including emerging contaminants
- Increases the required state match to draw down additional federal water loan funds that provide low interest loans to local governments for water infrastructure and quality projects
- Increases appropriations to the Housing Trust Fund by $2.3 million to assist with affordable housing
- Lowers minimum spending requirements and increases project caps for the state’s film grant program
- Provides $1.5 million for materials and outreach for the 2020 Census
- Creates a support position in the Office of State Human Resources to assist local government social services and public health entities
- Adds two positions to the State Board of Elections help desk to assist county boards of elections with software problems