archived: 17 - 23 Apr, 2005 Back Next
SUNDAY, APRIL 17, 2005
L. HOLLAND
“Hiding”
I'd like "Boy Orator of the Neuse" to have enough backbone, or 'gumption' as my granny used to say, to not hide behind a false name. And put his real name out with his epistles. TPJ should not publish anything that does not have the writer's real name attached.
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Junkie: Holland is responding to a TPJ article appearing in Tar Heel Dems last week by “Boy Orator of the Neuse,” entitled “BURSTING THE JUNKIE'S BUBBLE: HERE COMES THE HEMP AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR THE DEMOCRATS.” Boy Orator was roundly critical of TPJ’s position opposing inclusion of commercial hemp in the Party Platform.
First, TPJ prizes all who respond to TPJ, even those critical of a particular article. TPJ is dedicated to providing readers as broad a spectrum of thought within the Democratic Party as possible. Critics often provide the framework for meaning discussion and debate.
Second, TPJ consciously decided to permit articles and comments under noms de plume. Why? Several writers, both in North Carolina and nationally have business and other associations that practically prohibit the use of their real names. TPJ has two choices; not publish, as suggested by Holland, or permit publication under noms de plume in order to capture diverse and usually very significant points of view.
TPJ chose the latter course. TPJ readers may rest assured that the writers under noms de plume are considered reputable and knowledgeable.
THE NIGHTMARE BEGINS
The General Assembly will soon start wielding the budget axe in earnest. Today, TPJ focuses on just two programs that face cuts: Medicaid and Education.
Medicaid.
About 57,000 people would be cut from the Medicaid list. They would lose their hospital coverage, according to the Department of Health and Human Services, and payments for home nursing services.
"We don't want to do these things," said Sen. Bill Purcell, a lead Democrat overseeing the Department of Health and Human Services budget. But health budget writers were told to cut $221 million from Gov. Mike Easley's spending proposal, he said, and "you can't do that without cutting services to people."
The budget assumes the legislature lets temporary sales and income taxes expire this year.
Medicaid, a government health insurance program, covers the state's poorest residents, the elderly and the disabled. Medicaid costs the state nearly $2.5 billion a year.
The budget proposal freezes payment rates to hospitals, doctors, nursing homes and a wide range of other health services. Pharmacies would get less for prescription drugs.
Even with the cuts, legislators missed their target by about $26 million. Purcell said the $14.5 million plan to move children onto Medicaid from another government-subsidized health insurance program is in jeopardy. – News & Observer
Education. We know what Republicans in Washington are doing. This fact sheet comes from the North Carolina Child Advocacy Institute web page: -- NCCAI (a great resource)
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But, Democrats in North Carolina are considering adding insult to injury:
Even with the possibility of a state lottery generating as much as $400 million for education, legislators are looking at cutting about $245 million next year from the state's universities, community colleges and public schools.
As strange as that sounds, that's the discussion in the General Assembly, where budget writers are trying to square spending with revenues that could fall $1 billion short of new and ongoing costs.
Public schools have been asked to suggest reductions of up to 4 percent in the money they receive from the state -- which accounts for more than two-thirds of total funding for most school systems. In all, that reduction would amount to more than $170 million.
The University of North Carolina system has been asked to offer $78 million in possible reductions; the state community college system, $29.4 million.
The suggested cuts from state schools at all three levels would exceed the $245 million target, allowing legislative budget writers some flexibility.
But even though the final cuts may be less severe, school leaders are still sounding the alarms.
"It's an ominous problem for us," said Wake County schools Superintendent Bill McNeal. "We have a school district that's growing rapidly. ... If anything, we need additional resources."
State spending for public schools increased about 5 percent from the 2000-01 school year through last year. But spending per student inched up less than 1 percent over the same four-year period. Much of the additional spending -- about $300 million -- was needed to keep pace with enrollment increases. To pay for new efforts, such as reducing class size in early grades, schools had to cut spending elsewhere.
What shakes out in the next weeks of wrangling over the state budget remains uncertain. But educators are bracing for deeper cuts than they foresaw when Easley proposed his budget earlier this year. – News & Observer
These two critical areas are representative of the types of cuts that are coming to cover over a 1 BILLION DOLLARS budget shortfall unless North Carolinians develop the political will to impose taxes.
North Carolina will have a balanced budget with no new taxes; but what quality of State will we have?
Last Update: 03/23/2006