Weekly Recap: Catch up on the news you missed from 5/21-5/27
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper criticized education-related bills advanced largely by Republicans, the final whistle blew at the Canton mill and a pair of GOP House members resigned from leadership.
A bit of a tamer week in North Carolina politics, but some very notable items. Lets’ get into it.
🚨Cooper declares public education ‘emergency’
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper on Monday declared a “state of emergency” for public education. But it’s not like the one you’d announce for disaster relief. It was effectively a symbolic gesture, with him using the megaphone of his office to blast a proposed Republican budget that stands to transfer hundreds of millions of dollars from public schools to private schools and provide small raises for K-12 educators.
“There’s no executive order like with a hurricane or the pandemic, but it’s no less important,” Cooper said in a pre-recorded video. “It’s clear that the Republican legislature is aiming to choke the life out of public education.”
North Carolina Republicans are looking to enact a dramatic expansion of the state’s voucher program, known as opportunity scholarships. Currently, children living in households that qualify for the federal free or reduced-price lunch program (made $55,500 or less for a family of four) get a scholarship amount up to 90% of North Carolina’s average per pupil spending for average daily membership. This year’s proposal would bump that up to 100% for lower-income residents. All other residents regardless of income level would get an at least partial government subsidy between 45% and 90% of the state’s average per pupil spending.
The expansion would come at a sizable cost.
Data from the North Carolina State Education Assistance Authority, which administers the program, shows the state is spending $133 million this year for more than 25,000 to attend private schools, most whom attend religious schools.
Under the expansion proposed by Republicans, that spending would surpass $415 million by 2026 and $500 million by 2032.
Rep. Tricia Cotham, a Mecklenburg County Republican who switched parties last month, blasted Cooper on Twitter following his “emergency” declaration.
“My bill to expand the NC Opportunity Scholarship program, to allow all NC families to make that choice, will soon be on his desk, waiting on his signature,” Cotham wrote. “NC kids are waiting, Governor! Stop the political theater and put kids first!”
Cooper has also criticized the Senate budget plan’s proposed raises for teachers.
In March, Cooper offered a proposed budget with a recommended 18% pay raise for K-12 educators over the next two years. The following month, the House passed a budget with 10.2% average teacher raises over the biennium. The Senate passed its own spending plan, providing an average 4.5% raise over two years for teachers.
Now, the House and Senate will be tasked with working out their differences, likely enacting raises much smaller than Cooper’s proposed 18% pay hike.
A Q&A with Canton’s mayor
The small western North Carolina town of Canton has been through a lot in the past three years. First, there was the COVID-19 pandemic. Then, there was the deadly Tropical Storm Fred. Now, a 115-year-old sounded its last whistle on Wednesday, marking a wind down to operations, and, with that, hundreds of soon-to-be unemployed paper mill workers.
I spoke with Canton Mayor Zeb Smathers about the long road ahead to economic recovery, his conversations with state leaders about budget carveouts and his message to his community.
“We’re still trying to build back from Tropical Storm Fred of 2021, and then this happens,” Smathers told me in an interview. “I'm starting to think Job didn’t have it too bad in the Bible. But there's a sense of toughness and grit to keep going. I want to make clear that, yes, it is not lost on me that Wednesday that whistle blowing is an end. It's an end to, yes, a part of our soul has made our DNA, but it's not the end of the way of our life. It’s not an end to what we stand for and what we want to be and what we value.”
To read more from that conversation, you can upgrade your Anderson Alerts membership plan here.
❌🐘Two House Republicans resign from party leadership
A pair of North Carolina lawmakers will no longer serve in House leadership after making inflammatory remarks about their Democratic colleagues last week while on the chamber floor.
Rep. Keith Kidwell, a Beaufort County Republican, took personal aim at Rep. Diamond Staton-Williams, a Cabarrus County Democrat, during a debate over an abortion bill. After Staton-Williams spoke about getting an abortion and her religious views, Kidwell privately quipped off mic that his colleague must have been raised in the Church of Satan.
The remark was overheard by a WRAL reporter who had been seated at the back of the chamber floor.
During a separate floor debate last week about a school voucher expansion bill, Rep. Jeff McNeely, an Iredell County Republican, suggested a Black Democratic colleague only got admitted into an Ivy League school because of his race or athletic talents.
“Would you have been able to maybe achieve this if you were not an athlete or a minority or any of these things?" McNeely said. He was suspended from continuing to speak.
Rep. Abe Jones, a Wake County Democrat, replied, "I earned my place and I did well."
Later in the session, McNeely apologized. Jones accepted the apology, but also added in a statement that “the thinly-veiled racial aspect of the encounter is inexcusable.”
On Thursday, little more than a week after Kidwell and McNeely’s remarks, House Majority Leader John Bell, a Wayne County Republican, announced the two Republicans resigned from their roles as deputy majority whips.
“As elected officials, we must serve by example and be accountable for our actions, especially as leaders in the caucus,” Bell said in a statement. “While apologies have been made and accepted, we believe this is an appropriate action and step forward. The House Republican Caucus remains united as we work towards our shared goals this legislative session.”
🏈Senate advances modified sports gambling bill
A North Carolina Senate committee on Wednesday advanced a bill to legalize mobile sports betting, but made a number of changes to the House’s proposal.
Under House Bill 347, people could place mobile through an approved list of operators. If signed into law, bets could be placed on professional sports, college sports, electronic sports and Olympic events. The Senate’s plan also adds horse racing onto the list of sports eligible for bets.
Once an application is approved, licensees could accept online sports bets from registered account holders who are at least 21 years of age. The House pushed for a 14% tax on gross wagering revenue from operators, while the Senate’s version of the bill raises the tax rate to 18%.
The bill is scheduled for two final committee votes on Tuesday before likely being brought to the chamber floor later in the week. Once cleared, the House will either accept the Senate’s changes or a group of members between the two chambers will be tasked with working out their differences.
What to watch for this week
TUESDAY: A medical marijuana legalization bill that cleared the Senate earlier this session is scheduled for its first committee hearing in the House at 10 a.m., though it is presently marked as discussion-only item. At 1 p.m. and 2:30 p.m., committee votes are scheduled for the bill to legalize mobile sports betting. It will go through the Senate Finance and Rules committees.
WEDNESDAY: This would be the earliest date for a Senate floor vote on the sports gambling bill. At 9 a.m., the Senate Agriculture, Energy and Environment Committee is scheduled to hold a discussion-only hearing on House Bill 130, which calls for limiting the ability of local governments to prohibit certain consumer energy choices. It’s similar to a bill Cooper vetoed in 2021.
📖3 essential reads
Pat McCrory says his political career is over — and asks what happened to the Republican Party (Steve Harrison // WFAE)
‘We are in a mess.’ NC state agency leaders push for higher raises for state employees (Dawn Vaughan // Raleigh News & Observer)
Canton paper mill bell sounds for final time, signaling an end after 115 years (Iris Seaton // Asheville Citizen Times)