Teacher Raises, School Construction & Student Safety Funds Blocked as Governor Cooper Holds Budget Hostage

July 17, 2019

RALEIGH – Governor Roy Cooper wants the public to think that Republicans are the ones incapable of negotiating in good faith, when in fact it is his ‘Medicaid or nothing’ strategy — his refusal to sign any budget bill that doesn’t include Medicaid expansion — that is standing in the way of the very teacher raises and spending on schools that Democrats say they want. It is the Republican majority in the General Assembly that has passed these teacher raises and school spending.

Republican lawmakers are now calling the governor out for manufacturing this ‘Cooper Crisis’ as the State of North Carolina enters a new fiscal year with out a budget in place.

Rep. Jeffrey Elmore (R-Wilkes), the only active public school teacher in the General Assembly and the Co-chair of the House Education Committee, urged the Governor to put politics aside and stop holding the budget hostage to the Left’s political demands:

“From billions in school construction and education funding to millions in teacher raises and classroom supplies, the Governor and Democrats are putting politics over public education. Furthermore, the Governor’s budget impasse will cause teacher pay freezes similar to 2009 when Democrats held control of the General Assembly.

“Pay uncertainty and flat funding shows no respect to our hardworking school employees and stakeholders as the start of the school year is almost here. It is simply unfair to use students, teachers and schools as bargaining chips in a partisan political game.”

Republican lawmakers have continued to call on Cooper to have a separate debate on Medicaid expansion – and not tie it together with something as important as the state’s budget. They point to the fact that the budget passed by the General Assembly already includes a special provision that allows the Governor to call the legislature back for a special session this fall to discuss health care and Medicaid expansion.

Even if, in a special session, the Republicans tell Cooper and the Democrats to take a hike on Medicaid expansion (as they should), there’s is a much more reasonable approach to such negotiations. The Republicans are the adults in the room; Cooper is the petulant child of the Left.

To be sure, the funding obstructed by Cooper’s political brinkmanship is not insignificant. The completely new biennial budget sets the appropriations for the next two years and effects every corner of the state. Republicans released a list of everything caught up in the ‘Cooper Crisis.’ The Democratic governor’s Medicaid-or-nothing obstinacy is holding school construction funding hostage for all 100 counties. Are Democrats so intent on extending expensive Big Government healthcare entitlements to hundreds of thousands of able-bodied adults that they will throw schools under the bus?

Key Public Education Benefits and Resources Being Blocked

- 3.9% teacher pay raise over the biennium.
- $1.43 billion over two years in increased education funding.
- $91 million in school safety measures.
- $4.4 billion over the next 10 years for school construction.
- $3 million to provide free school lunches for low-income students.
- $15 million in new funding for classroom supplies.

Democrats have often framed their desire for more and more spending as being ‘for the children’ and labeling any opposition to that profligate spending as ‘anti-kids’ and ‘anti-education.’ What say you now Democrats, now that you’re governor is actually standing in the way of education spending, school safety, and teacher pay raises?

Local School Construction Funds Being Blocked

Alamance-Burlington $18,428,823
Alexander County $12,411,156
Alleghany County $10,353,574
Anson County $11,884,154
Ashe County $10,775,162
Asheboro City $ 4,396,455
Asheville City $ 2,713,629
Avery County $10,511,929
Beaufort County $12,165,414
Bertie County $11,234,254
Bladen County $12,277,125
Brunswick County $13,315,336
Buncombe County $14,687,531
Burke County $15,756,422
Cabarrus County $17,220,503
Caldwell County $15,402,161
Camden County $10,666,626
Carteret County $12,158,044
Caswell County $11,332,269
Catawba County $11,116,803
Chapel Hill-Carrboro $ 9,532,195
Chatham County $12,337,946
Cherokee County $11,136,538
Clay County $10,335,402
Cleveland County $16,605,277
Clinton City $ 4,357,148
Columbus County $10,632,523
Craven County $14,384,993
Cumberland County $28,886,745
Currituck County $11,067,730
Dare County $11,381,585
Davidson County $14,998,456
Davie County $11,627,851
Duplin County $15,498,144
Durham County $18,587,527
Edenton/Chowan $10,729,020
Edgecombe County $13,427,241
Elkin City $1,616,987
Forsyth County $24,142,940
Franklin County $14,047,855
Gaston County $20,416,874
Gates County $10,913,914
Graham County $10,336,858
Granville County $14,143,141
Greene County $12,000,632
Guilford County $28,758,346
Halifax County $ 5,201,993
Harnett County $21,892,627
Haywood County $11,889,100
Henderson County $13,511,592
Hertford County $11,524,488
Hickory City $2,861,982
Hoke County $15,821,609
Hyde County $10,156,538
Iredell-Statesville $13,034,411
Jackson County $10,974,793
Johnston County $27,659,803
Jones County $10,399,503
Kannapolis City $3,000,295
Lee County $14,032,240
Lenoir County $14,071,824
Lexington City $ 2,423,631
Lincoln County $13,071,054
Macon County $11,156,512
Madison County $10,666,773
Martin County $11,558,269
McDowell County $12,814,262
Mecklenburg County $48,448,911
Mitchell County $10,546,702
Montgomery County $11,488,434
Moore County $13,314,557
Mooresville City $ 3,829,900
Mount Airy City $ 2,259,667
Nash-Rocky Mount $16,943,741
New Hanover County $16,843,283
Newton-Conover $ 2,095,306
Northampton County $10,865,984
Onslow County $18,360,133
Orange County $ 5,612,793
Pamlico County $10,324,498
Pasquotank County $12,451,049
Pender County $13,872,281
Perquimans County $10,472,554
Person County $11,454,025
Pitt County $19,856,962
Polk County $10,546,975
Randolph County $15,742,900
Richmond County $14,202,934
Roanoke Rapids City $ 6,041,637
Robeson County $25,780,597 23
Rockingham County $15,686,829
Rowan-Salisbury $17,608,410
Rutherford County $14,040,176
Sampson County $11,949,305
Scotland County $13,570,841
Stanly County $13,731,951
Stokes County $12,719,108
Surry County $10,800,912 31
Swain County $10,615,809 32
Thomasville City $ 1,796,180 33
Transylvania County $10,895,356
Tyrrell County $10,313,374 35
Union County $20,751,542 36
Vance County $13,614,718 37
Wake County $52,215,430 38
Warren County $10,668,056 39
Washington County $10,703,586 40
Watauga County $11,217,518 41
Wayne County $19,103,192 42
Weldon City $ 1,891,823 43
Whiteville City $ 4,312,611 44
Wilkes County $14,016,757 45
Wilson County $14,881,132 46
Yadkin County $12,532,520 47
Yancey County $10,572,504

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