Wednesday, August 5, 2009

NC Budget Goes to Governor

The following is from the Record and Landmark web site.

The North Carolina General Assembly has approved a $19 billion state budget for the spending year that started a month ago. The Senate and House voted Wednesday to give the budget final legislative approval.

Gov. Beverly Perdue said she would reluctantly sign into law the package that includes higher taxes and reduced services.

The budget leaves up to local school districts — now just weeks away from a new school year — to decide how to handle their share of $225 million in cuts.

The following is from the NCAE Daily Political Briefing.

In the final budget, the General Assembly fully funds class size in grades K-12 and restores teacher assistant funding. However, local school districts can make some discretionary cuts within rules to be established by the State Board of Education in two weeks.

I met with Mr. Brady Johnson today and he said that he has seen some of the budget information. Obviously, he has not had an opportunity to see how it would impact I-SS. I will have more about my meeting with Mr. Johnson in a subsequent post.

26 comments:

  1. cut TA's but added a CO position. did you ask him about that?

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  2. they cut the funding and are making the local districts be the bad guys by now saying what gets cut, when most systems have laid off TA's and TEACHERS.

    We are still one of few that managed to save every teacher position. It is regrettable that we had to lose TAs..........every county did.

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  3. Thank you BOE, and ISS for working to find different ways to cover expenses to save teachers jobs. the teachers of ISS thank you. The retirees and ungratefuls might be blasting you, but ISS TEACHERS thank you for a job to pay the teachers.

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  4. Thank you for doing the best you could with what amount the pitiful govt handed us. I am thankful I have a place to come to work.

    Teachers teach the future.

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  5. I am sorry, am I missing something? Didn't we operate on a 19 Billion dollar budget last year? If so, then why would we need to continue to teacher assistant cuts?

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  6. I am thankful that the interim Superintendent allowed you in the facility and gave you some face time. I look forward to reading your next post regarding the meeting with Mr. Johnson.

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  7. 8/5 10:28 Many districts are calling their TA's back. I have not heard that ISS is doing that. Anyone have any news?

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  8. Well, I just went to NCDPI and the new 2009-2010 salary schedule is now there... there is no step increase this year.

    http://www.dpi.state.nc.us/docs/fbs/finance/salary/schedules/2009-10schedules.pdf

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  9. 70 TAs were laid off from ISS when it was believed the state was going to cut third grade TAs. The state saved TA positions, because of the positive impact they serve in student learning. ISS should rehire them for the same reason!

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  10. The thing that the state wants to hide is that they still cut the same amount of money as planned, they just didn't label it as "eliminating 3rd grade TA's" or "increasing class size" so that they don't have to be the bad guy. What are the mountain schools that have already been in session for a week going to do? Rearrange classes after a week and hire teachers? This is the state government trying to make it look like they didn't cut education, don't be fooled!

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  11. They cut funding, but they didn't cut jobs, or funding for those jobs. Parents, if you're child does not have a TA in a K-3 classroom, know that the state IS providing money for them. ISS is choosing to spend it on a yet another CO position (equivalent to at least 3 or 4 TA salaries), IFs, and the Baldridge paperwork.

    Any cuts neccessary should be taken at the top, NOT inside the classroom. It was the state's desire to preserve classrooms and jobs. ISS should honor that, not just for the students of ISS, but for the county and state.

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  12. You realize if they cut CO jobs that just puts them back into the schools and makes new teachers lose their jobs. They all have contracts and/or seniority so don't think they will be let go.

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  13. I guess the citizen's board feels fine with sending 32 teachers to the unemployment line, as long as it is not THEM!

    Talk about a hate agenda driven group!

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  14. I will be praying for all of the negative souls on this blog and for Troutman Baptit Church where people appear to believe that church is the place to discuss this.

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  15. BEWARE - Pam Schiffman was in Dr. Holliday's back pocket and she will get the IP addresses from this blog!

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  16. Don't think so, August 8, 2009 11:15 AM . Available technology is not there yet. I doubt that Google will be cooperating with anyone attempting to obtain IP addresses. As I understand it, it would possible under a complicated set of circumstances for Paul Klaene to obtain IP addresses, but no one else.
    The fact that anyone should have to feel afraid to comment here speaks volumes about the serious trust issue that I-SS faces. In this country no one should be made to feel that they cannot express their opinions. Fears such as these are further proof that I-SS has a long way to go on the road from being a dysfunctional school system to becoming one that is functional.

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  17. No, fears such as these are ignorance. Pam Schiffman has much more going on with her job than to worry about this blog or the IP addresses involved with it. Come on people quit the conspiracy talk. That's rediculous and obsurd.

    And how can IP addresses be grounds for dismissal?? Everyone has an opinion and it sucks that opinions have been stiffled. But, I can assure you Pam Schiffman is not one of the sifflers. Know what people do for a job before you talk about them. There are only a few poeple in the world that can do her job and most teachers/administration better be thankful we have someone like her doing it.

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  18. Aug. 8, 11:15 AM - As the person commenting after you said, this blog is hosted by Google and not I-SS. I am not provided the IP address of anyone posting comments. If someone posts anonymously it is anonymous to me as well as the readers of the blog. And, quite frankly, that is the way I want it to remain.

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  19. I am sorry if they cut jobs for new teachers, but it is the students that matter.
    Those 32 IFs need to be in a classroom, especially if they really want to have an impact on education.
    Please don't be rude and let people have opinions.
    Perdue said cut at Central Offices and leave classroom teachers alone. If they come back to the classroom, yea for them. Otherwise, they can
    go push Baldrige or retire.
    The young teachers can do other things. I am sure that experienced teachers did other jobs before they were teachers.I know some great teachers who had to wait 2 or more years to ge a teaching position because of the job climate.
    They subbed,etc. Some got their masters during that time of non-hiring.
    This is not the first time there has been a lack of hiring new teachers, or letting teachers go,or freezing salaries in our state.
    We learn to live life as it is given to us.
    When the state says give back money, you cut where it will least hurt the students.

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  20. IP addresses---isn't that why teachers and staff didn't feel safe doing online surveys? I knew the Baldrige gang were malicious but now they malign churches?

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  21. wow, really?? no one cares about the ip addresses. Stop worrying about a conspriacy....geez

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  22. In response to the concerns about adding another CO position- there have been none added- There is shifting to fill roles but no new positions have been created.

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  23. I have noticed something consistent over the years. People love to bitch, put each other down, be angry and raise Cain about issues; until someone asks them to roll up their sleeves and help fix what is wrong.

    I’m not sure what the reason is. Maybe they are angry enough to complain but don’t really care enough to work hard for resolve. Maybe they get so hung up on “us against them” that they don’t want to meet with the other side and give in. If it is something other than this let me know. I have been trying to figure it out for years.

    I used to have a bi-weekly column in the R&L until the R&L edited me so much it wasn’t even my article anymore. I quit when they refused to print an article they were concerned “would be too divisive”. (The title of my article was healing, not division. It was directed at those who continue to stir up racial divide.)

    It didn’t matter to me at that point anyway. I wrote those articles for a long time. It wasn’t so I could be heard; it was to bring about change. People asked me to write about what upset them, mostly the condition of society and the government. People I had never met stopped me, thanked me for saying what I did and asked me to keep doing what I was doing. I still have people tell me they miss my column. Yet, I was never able to form a group of people to address the issues that supposedly meant so much to them. Without results, those columns were pointless.

    I’m seeing that here again. Every time I made a post suggesting a starting point of resolve, that series of posts died. Look back over here and see. It seems there is plenty of hate and anger for the other side, but not much so much at the issues themselves.

    I’ll tell you this; if we do form meetings such as I have offered to lead, everybody is going to be right and everybody is going to be wrong. The truthful answer to a problem is always somewhere in the middle. We need to get off each other and focus on those problems. That is why I said that there is no direction here. We aren’t moving forward.

    It’s easy to be angry and attack others or rant about any subject. However it takes sincerity and dedication to change what is wrong. We have a given amount of energy every day when we wake up. How do you use yours, causing more division or searching for resolve? The sooner we find that middle ground starting point and shake hands, the sooner ISS can begin to heal.

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  24. My email address is: ISSresolve@yahoo.com

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  25. ":Anonymous said...

    In response to the concerns about adding another CO position- there have been none added- There is shifting to fill roles but no new positions have been created.
    August 9, 2009 6:06 AM "

    How many CO positions have been added in the past seven years, and at what cost? See Paul's post comparing I-SS to comparably sized systems...

    http://issreport.blogspot.com/2009/06/school-administration-there-and-here.html

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  26. Yes, there have been many added over the 7 years. I was specifically responding to the two posters who posted above that they added a central office position with the restructuring. I am pointing out that that is not factual.

    I am well aware of the past, just trying to make sure we are giving facts and not creating untruths.

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