RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - The Latest on North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper unveiling his proposed budget adjustments for next year (all times local):
4:25 p.m.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper wants to raise teacher pay higher on average than what the state budget currently plans for next fall, and corporations and high wage-earners would help pay for it.
Cooper unveiled Thursday proposed adjustments to the second year of the state government spending plan.
He says teachers would get average raises of 8 percent, compared to the roughly 6 percent the GOP-controlled legislature enacted for next year over Cooper’s veto.
Cooper says he’d locate $100 million for the raises by keeping the corporate tax rate at 3 percent, rather than let it fall to 2.5 percent in 2019, and by creating a new individual tax bracket for six-figure earners.
Cooper calls it “tax fairness for teacher pay” but Republican legislators who will approve adjustments say it sounds more like “an unserious attempt to score political points in an election year.”
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3:10 a.m.
North Carolina Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper has some ideas for changing the state budget. Whether any of those proposals happen depends on if Republicans like them, too.
Cooper planned Thursday to unveil all his recommended adjustments to the second year of the two-year state government spending plan. He’ll do so the week before the GOP-controlled General Assembly begins its annual work session.
House and Senate leaders have already agreed they’ll spend almost $24 billion during the year starting July 1 but are still working out details. Cooper could veto any budget adjustment bill sent to him, but the legislature could override it, like lawmakers did last year.
Cooper previously teased out some proposals, including $130 million for school safety and student support improvements and $60 million toward workforce training initiatives.
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