Both bodies of the North Carolina General Assembly have passed budget proposals. The bills will now head to a Conference Committee. Although details and amounts of funding may differ, areas of general agreement on select birth-through-eight provisions include:
- Expanded funding for NC Pre-K,
- Expanded funding for Smart Start for early literacy programs,
- Subsidy child care market rate increase,
- Development of a case management system for child welfare,
- Funding to implement the child welfare program improvement plan,
- Funding to support aligning state blood lead standard with the federal standard,
- Expanded funding for home visiting,
- Pay increase for principals and assistant principals,
- Pay increase for teachers,
- Pay increase for Local Education Agency employees,
- Funding to continue teacher bonus programs,
- Funding to support positions in the State Superintendent’s office,
- Requirement that the State Board of Education develop, adopt and provide to Local Education Agencies three options of developmentally-appropriate reading assessments for kindergarten, first, second and third grades, and
- Expanded funding for textbooks and digital resources.
A detailed comparison of the proposals is outlined in the below chart.
