budgets

Gov. Chris Gregoire challenged her potential successors to pursue new revenue in support of education, saying that she wished the state had committed more money to schools in this year’s budget.

What’s in a name? The Newton Schools Foundation hopes the answer is big money.

Public education is good for students, good for the state and good for the economy, so funding it adequately should be a priority. That was the message delivered by hundreds who attended a rally this morning on the state Capitol steps.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan will testify this before the House Education and Workforce Committee on his department’s budget. He spoke to The Hill’s comment editor, Emmanuel Touhey, about his priorities and his political future.

Sherry Dana's reason for joining a rally protesting cuts in public education spending was summed up by a quote from the Italian poet Dante on a cloth bag slung over her shoulder: "The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality."

Gov. Beverly Perdue's verbal drumbeat in support of raising additional revenues for the public schools next year could be heard at one of the big technology companies located in North Carolina Wednesday.

The N.C. Pre-K program has become the focus of a statewide debate over early education, but it represents only a portion of state taxpayer-funded pre-kindergarten classes.

Declining property taxes contributed to a $1.3 billion statewide cut to education last year, Republican Gov. Rick Scott’s first year in office.