Linda Saturno
Executive Director, NC Child
We appreciate the General Assembly’s hard work in crafting adjustments to the FY2015 state budget. Providing teachers with a pay increase is an important step towards ensuring our children receive a world-class education. While more needs to be done to ensure the overall health and well-being of our state’s children, our legislators did the best they could with the resources available. However, we can and should do better.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation recently released its annual Data Book showing that North Carolina ranks 34th in overall child well-being and is below average in economic well-being and health. If we want to be a truly great state that continues to achieve top rankings for our business climate, we must ensure that every child has the opportunity to achieve his or her full potential and obtain a competitive skill set for a global economy.
This budget falls short of that vision and illustrates the difficulty of effectively investing in critical state services and infrastructure without adequate revenue. Recent polls show that a large majority of North Carolinians support paying more in taxes to ensure adequate funding for education. To ensure our children have the opportunities they deserve, the legislature should consider options to enhance revenue moving forward.
Again, we appreciate the hard work of our legislators and look forward to working with them in the coming months.
For more information about how this year’s budget affects children, contact Rob Thompson, director of communications and network, at 919.649.2449.