North Carolina’s General Assembly meets every year, but the length of those sessions can vary. Our main duty as legislators is crafting a budget for the state. Those budgets are made in the Long Session, always an odd year. State budgets are written to fund our state over the biennium, or two years. In even years, like 2024, we come back for a Short Session. Typically, that involves a smaller budget where we make corrections as needed and allocate additional funding if it is available and necessary.
This year, so far, the General Assembly has packed up without accomplishing much of use for our state, least of all a budget. Differences between the House and Senate — both chambers with Republican supermajorities — have prevented much progress from happening. Left in the lurch are millions of North Carolinians who rely on their elected officials to show up to work and make their lives better. On that count, this General Assembly has failed.
This legislative year has been less about policy accomplishments and more about missed opportunities.
One missed opportunity is investing in our schools and students. North Carolina once again ranks near the bottom of the bunch in terms of funding for our public schools. We are one of the largest states in the nation, constantly growing. We are able to attract massive economic development projects, but how long can we continue this progress without a workforce to fill the jobs being created? I want to ensure that people within this community have not only job opportunities but the skills and abilities needed to fill them. By underfunding our public school system, we are setting ourselves up for failure in the long term.
In the short term, instead of funding the public schools adequately, Republican leadership has decided to siphon money away from them and into unaccountable private schools. Public schools are accountable to you as a voter and taxpayer. You elect your county commissioners and your school board members to ensure our schools are run properly. Yet the Republicans here in Raleigh want to send your tax dollars to schools with scant oversight and the ability to discriminate against students they serve. I disagree with that approach.
In fact, the current stalemate in our state budget process this year is because Republicans cannot agree on how to funnel even more money to private schools, this time focusing on the wealthiest North Carolinians. Folks who, largely, already have their kids in private schools and can afford to do so. There are better uses of state dollars than taxpayer-funded vouchers for the highest earners.
The budget impasse also leaves our local communities at a disadvantage. Chatham County has serious needs in terms of infrastructure, particularly water and sewer. I have worked hard over the past few years to help secure hundreds of millions of dollars in our state budgets to help fund the infrastructure needed for our quickly growing county. Without a budget so far this year, communities like Siler City and Pittsboro will have to wait for sorely needed investments. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of communities across the state in a similar bind.
These are just a few of the issues left on the table while Republicans fight amongst themselves in order to hand out more money to the wealthiest North Carolinians and slash taxes for corporations. Meanwhile, the average North Carolinian is more focused on how to make ends meet and making sure their kids are prepared for a new school year. A more functional General Assembly would have funded our public schools, invested in our communities, given raises to state employees and teachers and more.
For Republican leadership, waiting half a year to get things done is a minor inconvenience. Too many North Carolinians need help today, and they shouldn’t have to wait.
Robert Reives II is the N.C. House Democratic leader and represents Chatham County.