N.C. Senator Ellie Kinnaird's Newsletter

May 29, 2011 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Ellie Kinnaird

Greetings from the North Carolina Senate,

The Senate budget was rolled out this week. It eliminates 18,000 teaching assistants, but preserves them in the first grade, which is different from the House budget that eliminated all in the first three grades. Picture a teacher with up to 23 children in a class where some speak no English, some have learning problems, some have never been to school before and some are very bright. The teaching assistant is a crucial part of the team. The Republicans’ goal is for no more than 15 children in a classroom in the lower grades. All research shows this is the most effective measure, but even with 1000 new teachers, it won’t get all classrooms to 15 for several years and the teachers in grades two and three will have to do without.

A special provision in the budget will limit each county to one school district means that Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools will be required to merge with Orange County schools. The difficulty is that C H-Carrboro have a supplemental school tax which the county residents rejected soundly two years ago.

In addition to cuts to public schools, community colleges and the university, there are cuts that will particularly hurt women and children. More at Four is part of Smart Start which will now have to charge families served by the program. Rape Crisis Centers and Domestic Violence Centers were cut in the Senate budget. Planned Parenthood was cut entirely, even though most of their work is health care check-ups, cancer screening and contraception for uninsured women, this impacts African American women the most. The Health and Wellness Trust fund is dissolved but some programs for teen smoking and obesity prevention funds are sent to Health and Human Services, at least preserving those valuable programs.

Then Elections, Ethics and Lobbying functions will be combined into one agency. The Elections Board will lose 14 staff, positions that help local boards with elections. The Treasurer, who invests billions for the state, has 36 positions cut!

This week the Senate passed a bill to require a school to get parent’s or a guardian’s written permission before they can administer corporal punishment to a student. There are a few schools that still allow corporal punishment. We try to abolish corporal punishment in public schools every few years, but there is a contingency that wants it, including some conservative religious groups. I can’t imagine hitting another’s child with a wooden paddle and I wouldn’t think teachers or administrators would want to either.

Distilleries and breweries can now sell their products during on-site tours and tastings. There is a new beverage called “White Lightening” distilled at a mountain distillery, named to honor their legacy of the old, illegal stuff. They think it will be popular and want to sell it on-site during tours. One of the best legislative lore is that liquor by the drink which supporters tried for years to enact, finally passed when the Baptist convention was held and all the Baptists were away from the legislature.

Volunteer retired doctors can now practice with a “retired limited volunteer license “that will help to provide needed health care to the uninsured. At the same time, we are putting in place measures to find fraud and abuse of the Medicaid system. And there will be a pruning of the bureaucracy for Department of Health and Human Services mental health system after a legislative study. Looking at the flow chart of the present system, one wonders how anyone got through the bureaucracy and received services. This is a welcome and badly needed efficiency.

A bill to require regular reporting of the effectiveness of economic development incentives should reveal what does and doesn’t work in this high stakes giveaway.

Students, parents, and teachers have been concerned about cuts to the school budget. A bill that passed the Senate eliminates the option for automatic dues check-off to teachers’ associations. The bill did not eliminate the automatic deductions for state employees associations. An amendment that would have added the NC State Employee Association deduction to the bill failed, leading to the accusations that because of the criticisms of the budget cuts to education from the teachers’ organizations, this was selective punishment. Interestingly, there are 150 organizations for which state workers can have contributions automatically deducted from their paychecks. But teachers and parents are right to be concerned. North Carolina will be last in the nation in per pupil funding, behind even Mississippi.

Still no unemployment checks for now 42,000 long-term unemployed people.

I wish I had a light note on which to end the newsletter but I don’t. This Memorial Day we honor the fallen, who have given the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country, regardless what any of us might think of a particular war or conflict. Sadly, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan cost $20 billion a month, money that we need desperately here at home. And this week nine of our military were killed, the oldest 30 years old. Perhaps some Memorial Day, we will have peace.

Paid for by Ellie Kinnaird for Senate • Campaign Address: PO Box 668, Carrboro, NC 27510 • 919-918-3432
Legislative Office Address: Room 628 LOB, 300 N. Salisbury St., Raleigh, NC 27603 •