Public education cuts add fuel to Senate race

Education has become key in this year’s Senate race, and both sides are scrambling to gain an advantage on the issue.

North Carolina is now ranked among the states that have cut the most in per-pupil spending over the past seven years, according to a Center on Budget and Policy Priorities’ report released in October. Having cut 14.5 percent of the budget per pupil since 2008—leaving $5,030 to be spent per student in the 2015 fiscal year—North Carolina saw the sixth largest decline in the nation.

The campaigns of both Democratic incumbent Kay Hagan and Republican Speaker of the N.C. House Thom Tillis claim that the other side has not done enough to protect education in the state. With the election just days away, Republicans have been on the defensive as they rebut attacks against Thom Tillis' record on education in the House of Representatives.

“Education has been one of the most important things in this state for a very long time," said John Aldrich, Pfizer-Pratt University Professor of Political Science. "It’s one of the really important things about the politics of this state.”

Aldrich explained that a good education system has been a major contributing factor to the growth of North Carolina's technology industry.

“The more educated the citizenry of the state, the more attractive it is for better paying jobs to come to North Carolina," Aldrich said. "That’s been the whole point of the Research Triangle Park. They started it in the 1960s, relying not only on having the major universities but having the rest of the area who’s not university-educated still be well-trained through K-12."

Republicans, led by Thom Tillis in the House of Representatives, imposed major cuts on the state education budget after the 2010 elections, Aldrich explained. These cuts have been felt at the local level in Durham.

“Since 2008, state funding for [Durham Public Schools] has been reduced by more than $50 million," said Heidi Carter, chair of the Durham Board of Education. "We have seen reductions in funding for school buses, transportation, teachers, teacher assistants, supplies, technology, at-risk student services, textbooks and more."

Republicans have increased teacher salaries this year, but Democrats argue that these increases do not compensate for the previous cuts.

"It didn't completely make up for the cuts, but they were able to claim ‘Oh, we raised teacher salaries’ for the first time in however many years.' And then Democrats are then able to say ‘But you devastated spending on K through 12 before then,’" Aldrich said. "So both sides have real claims about what had happened in education policy through Thom Tillis as the Speaker of the House."

Democrats have used education as a way to attack Tillis throughout the campaign, even though the Senate does not have much influence on state education funding.

“If you look at what Speaker Tillis has done, he has cut education spending by $500 million to give tax breaks to the wealthy," said Chris Hayden, a spokesperson for the Kay Hagan campaign. "We've seen per-pupil spending go to 48th in the country in North Carolina."

The Tillis campaign could not be reached for comment, but the campaign's website claims that state education funding has actually seen a net increase from 2011 to 2014.

“As Speaker, Thom has increased education funding by $660 million, and gave teachers a historic 7 percent average pay raise,” wrote campaign spokeswoman Meghan Burris in a statement on the campaign's website.

The Hagan campaign also pointed to differences in Hagan's and Tillis' records with regards to colleges and college students.

“We’ve also seen Speaker Tillis raise the cost of college. He put a tax on college meal plans," Hayden said. "Kay has voted for a bill that will let students refinance their student loans. Right now, it’s about the only loan that you can’t refinance."

Tillis has said that he would oppose the student loan refinancing bill that was in Congress because it would increase the national debt and does not address the underlying problem of college cost.

Overall, Aldrich said that education will probably be a net positive for Hagan going into Tuesday's election.

“It doesn't affect Kay Hagan at all because the Senate does virtually nothing for education," Aldrich explained. "But because it’s the Speaker of the House who has led the charge in huge cuts followed by this raise, it’s become a focal issue for how you think about Tillis."

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