Senators hear educators’ pleas for tax increases Officials warn of few supplies, crowded classes, laid-off teachers

Democratic Senate leaders trooped in school superintendents and

college presidents to Raleigh Monday to help drive home their call for

either cigarette and alcohol tax increases or a lottery to balance the

state’s lopsided budget for next year.

Senate leaders also warned their colleagues to start planning ahead

because the state’s fiscal problems turn catastrophic in the budget for

the following year, 2004-05.

A presentation by the General Assembly’s nonpartisan fiscal research

staff showed that, even with a recent one-time windfall of $510 million

from the federal government, the state is still nearly $300 million

short of funding next year’s budget.

Depending on whether the House or Senate version of the budget is

eventually approved, the shortfall could be as high as $600 million, the

staffers said. Senate Democrats are pushing for a “sin tax” or creating

a state lottery to patch up the gap, while Republicans generally want

additional spending cuts. Since education accounts for about 60 percent

of the budget, schools and universities would feel part of any

reductions.

Johnston County schools, near Raleigh, already will have to eliminate

70 jobs under current budget plans, Superintendent Jim Causby told a

packed hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Molly Broad, president of the University of North Carolina system,

said college classes were growing larger and the number of classes

available for students to complete a degree were shrinking.

“We cannot sustain cuts of this magnitude,” she told lawmakers. Over

the past two years, the system’s enrollment grew by 14,200 students, a

figure larger than the total enrollment of 10 of the state’s colleges.

One by one, educators warned of crowded classes, laid-off teachers

and a lack of classroom supplies bound to result from further funding

reductions. They cautioned that North Carolina’s economy cannot recover

if its workers are not better educated to adapt to an economy

increasingly based on information and technology, not manufacturing.

The parade of education officials, though, was answered by a lineup

of retirees, activists and laid-off workers from the group Citizens for

a Sound Economy.

“By raising taxes, you don’t necessarily raise revenue,” said

Jonathan Hill, the group’s state director, warning that tax increases

can cause less spending and economic growth and, subsequently, less tax

revenue.

The state also should not mire itself in the business of gambling,

Hill said, criticizing a lottery as sapping money out of family

paychecks.