Gov. Pat McCrory proposed slashing the UNC system by $139 million in his proposed budget. At the next level of proceedings, the North Carolina Senate has proposed a cut of “only” $48 million. This may seem like a win for our universities. But while it is definitely an improvement over McCrory’s proposed cut, it is far from perfect.
The speculation is that to compensate for the reduced cut to the UNC system, public schools are instead getting the short end of the straw. For example, one known measure in the Senate’s proposed budget is an annual cut of $142 million to funding for teacher assistants in lower grades. The reasoning that K-12 schooling is less important to the state than higher education doesn’t make sense ― for students to succeed in higher education, they must first have successful schools. Offsetting the damage to the UNC system by sacrificing the schools will cause the same problems that cuts to higher education would, and it shouldn’t be done.
Next, an interesting matter involving N.C. State is the advisory team from the UNC system that has been recruited at the request of the General Assembly “to analyze and estimate the economic impact of the tax reform plan under consideration in the state Senate,” according to an N.C. State University news brief. Two faculty-members from N.C. State ― Roby Sawyers, professor in the Department of Accounting and Mike Walden, professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, are a part of this team of experts.
So, here we have the G.A. coming up with schemes, and then recruiting a team of experts to help it understand the implications of these schemes. We had a feeling that the legislature doesn’t quite know what it’s doing, and these a posteriori consultations of theirs further our doubts. But the obvious question must be put in print: Is it a good sign that the G.A. has to call upon experts to shed light on steps it has already proposed to take?
Furthermore, the irony is that these same professors that the state is hiring will be subject to a $48 million budget cut if the Senate’s budget is passed. That brings about the other question: Should the G.A. not reconsider cutting funding to the same institutions that it depends upon, not just for the general prosperity of the state, but also for figuring out its own tax proposals?
Finally, the fact remains that $48 million is also a substantial number, and is consistent with the general trend of cutbacks to public services and social safety nets. While a country such as Mexico, considerably less affluent than the U.S.A., can afford to provide its citizens with free public education, there is no reason why we shouldn’t expect the same from our government. After all, it is the same government which used to provide minimally expensive education ― only some decades ago ― when the country wasn’t as affluent as it is today.
Thus, we at Technician call for no cuts to education. Especially in a state which depends so heavily on education, and the UNC System in particular, the legislature would be shooting itself in the foot with budget cuts to both public schools and the university system.
