Tillis clarifies: No new funds for pre-K

N.C. Speaker of the House Thom Tillis hinted Monday that more money could be headed to state pre-kindergarten programs that took 20 percent cuts earlier this year.

But Tillis said Tuesday that he was talking about adding flexibility to local education budgets, not the infusion of tax dollars that Gov. Bev Perdue, pre-K advocates and the superior court judge in charge of monitoring education spending in North Carolina have been seeking.

It's simply a matter of allowing local school officials to shift state dollars from grades four through 12 to pre-K through third-grade classrooms, Tillis, R-Mecklenburg, said Tuesday, clarifying comments he made Monday evening during a town hall meeting near Charlotte.

"Having them work within that current funding ... but emphasizing early development," Tillis said.

"We simply don't have the money," Tillis said. "But to the extent that we have funding, we'd add it to the early years (of pre-K to third grade)."

That's particularly true now, with the depth of a Medicaid funding shortfall coming into focus, Tillis said. It's projected to be $139 billion and could lead to massive cuts for the state's poorest and sickest people, as well as large reimbursement cuts for the doctors who care for them.

Perdue's administration predicted the Medicaid hole before the Republican-controlled General Assembly passed a state budget balanced on spending cuts rather than on a ¾ of a penny sales tax Perdue suggested.

And Tillis' talk of flexibility rang hollow for advocates of pre-K education who see early learning as the key to success.

"Flexibility isn't the problem," said Rob Thompson, executive director of Covenant with North Carolina's Children. "The problem is that the legislature hasn't allocated enough money to educate four-year-olds."

Theo Helm, spokesman for the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, said early education is hugely important, but "we also want to be careful that we are not helping some students at the expense of others."

"If you look at every school level … every group could think of a lot of ways they could benefit from more funding," Helm said.

North Carolina's pre-K programs went through several revisions during this year's legislative session, the first under GOP control in more than a century. But the biggest was the 20 percent cut, and a call for a new co-pays for families seeking state help to pay for pre-kindergarten classes.

That caught the attention of Wake County Superior Court Judge Howard Manning, who is in charge of enforcing a provision in the state Constitution that guarantees every child an education. Manning declared the legislature's cuts unconstitutional, the Republican leadership disagreed and the issue is tied up in the courts.

Meanwhile Perdue has called on the General Assembly to use $30 million, mostly from a state reserve fund, to pay for pre-K classes for 6,300 more children around the state. The legislature has declined to do that, and Tillis said Tuesday that the state can't afford the extra spending, particularly since it's facing new Medicaid cuts.

"I think the governor's suggesting spending money that we literally don't have," Tillis said.

In Forsyth County the cuts mean there are 569 children in state-funded pre-K programs this year, down from last year's 711, according to Donna Faulconer, the local pre-K coordinator. There are 278 "at risk" children — meaning their families can't afford pre-K classes — on a waiting list for help, Faulconer said.

Statewide there are about 12,750 4-year-olds on the waiting list, she said.

North Carolina has a strong track record when it comes to pre-K funding and ranked 10th in the nation in total pre-K spending last year, according to a report from National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University.

It has been "a leader in the new South," but this year's changes represent "an about face," Steven Barnett, the institute's director, said.

"(North Carolina is) one of three states that I think has made the biggest changes for the worst," Barnett said.

Barnett said other states "are finding ways to deal with their budget issues and at least hold the line (on pre-K)." He noted that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie increased only one thing in his budget: pre-K spending.

New Jersey was No. 1 in pre-K spending even before the increase, which Barnett said was a slight one.