Yesterday the Democratic Party of North Carolina released a video titled The Stakes: The GOP War on Education. Aside from offering yet another way for the Democrats to divert attention from their actions and attempt to rouse their base, there are some big problems. Some big facts that don’t support the claims made in the video.
A review of relevant budget legislation for the last few years and a DPI document summarizing eliminated K-12 positions and reduction-in-force job losses provide some interesting numbers about this debate. Here are a few.
(Note: budget figures include general fund appropriations for K-12 public schools, community colleges and UNC System; DPI document references eliminated positions and reduction-in-force actions in K-12 schools only)
$2.453 billion – Total of all public education budget reductions in NC State Budget from 2008-09 to 2011-12
$1.53 billion – Total of all public education budget reductions in NC State Budget while the Gen. Assembly was under control of Democrats (2008-09 to 2010-11)
$923 million – Total of all public education budget reductions in NC State Budget while General Assembly was under control of Republicans (2011-12)
17,278 – Total number of education positions eliminated by General Assembly Since 2008-09
10,986 – Total number of education positions eliminated by General Assembly while under Democrat leadership (2008-09 to 2010-11)
6,382 – Number positions eliminated by General Assembly while under Republican leadership (2011-2012)
A GOP War on Education? Now you know why they resort to such tactics. Let all those Democrats who supported state budgets in 2009-10 and 2010-11 explain how they are against budget reductions.
(Figures for the graph below as well as the numbers listed above were found in the cited sources.)
democrats should not have cut as much as they did… but they did not hurt the kids the way conservatives are doing… Dems cuts were absorbed by the staff at schools through frozen wages and cost cutting on workers now the students are reaping the Republican cuts and that is not acceptable.