![]() It also supports violence and gang prevention strategies while investing in the expansion of successful re-entry and community supervision programs. The Governor’s budget bolsters public safety and prevents violent crime by investing in school safety grants, support for local law enforcement, and community-based violence prevention programs. Public Safety and Violent Crime Prevention Other investments in supporting mental health include additional school counselors and psychologists, a juvenile justice residential crisis unit, and higher education programs such as mental health first aid. The plan focuses on three areas: making mental health services more available when and where people need them building strong systems to support people in crisis and people with complex behavioral needs and enabling better health access and outcomes with data and technology. The Governor’s budget confronts the urgent mental health and substance use crisis by investing $1 billion of the Improve Health Outcomes for People Everywhere or “IHOPE” fund as he announced last week. The budget supports proven economic development investments with funding for additional megasite development, local government grants, downtown revitalization grants, and state-supported innovation programs.īolstering Mental Health Services and Programs It also provides increased funding for credentialing, internships, and pre-apprenticeships to help people move directly into good-paying jobs. The Governor’s budget strengthens and expands North Carolina’s growing workforce by enhancing services to connect employers and employees as well as investing in community college and four-year universities. Meeting Workforce Needs and Strengthening Economic Development These critical investments will help children grow, parents work and employers hire. It also includes $200 million to increase child care subsidy rates in rural and lower wealth communities. As part of that, the budget includes $500 million for child care stabilization grants to help maintain our access to affordable early childhood education. Governor Cooper recommends $1.5 billion in new funding to support child care and early childhood education needs across the state. Making Historic Investments in Child Care to Support Families The budget also seeks to address bus driver shortages across the state by raising pay 9.5% for noncertified school personnel and expanding DMV capacity to train school bus drivers. This would make North Carolina first in the Southeast in teacher pay and 16th in the nation, up from 32nd. ![]() The budget also increases teacher pay by an average of 10% in FY 2023 and 6% in FY 2024 and sets minimum starting teacher salaries at $46,000 in addition to local supplements. It fully funds the remedial plan ordered by the Supreme Court. The Governor’s budget invests substantially in public schools and a sound basic education required by the constitution for every student by raising teacher pay and including funding to help hire more educators, nurses, counselors, social workers, school psychologists, and turnaround coaches. Let’s take advantage of our unlimited potential to make sure every North Carolinian can thrive.”Įnsuring a Sound Basic Education, 1st in the Southeast in Teacher Pay “North Carolina has built on our success to strengthen our place as first in opportunity, and we will continue that growth only by making sound investments in our families, workforce, schools and communities. “We are at a historic moment with unprecedented opportunity to make ‘once-in-a-generation’ investments in our future,” said Governor Cooper. First in Opportunity is a responsible, balanced budget that does not raise taxes for North Carolinians while maintaining almost $7 billion in reserves in case of a potential downturn. The budget includes an average 18% teacher raise over the biennium, a $1 billion plan to support mental health, the largest investment in state employee compensation in 50 years and critical funding for child care, job training, and economic development. The plan put forth by the Governor builds on the state’s success and “once-in-a-generation” opportunity by investing in North Carolina families, businesses, and communities. RALEIGH: Governor Roy Cooper released his recommended budget for FY 2023-2025, First in Opportunity. ![]() Read the full budget recommendation HERE. Cooper Proposes Historic Investments in Education, Economic Development, and Workforce Without Raising Taxes
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