North Carolina Democrats take aim at GOP budget

"Unemployment is up. Education is suffering," pronounced N.C. Rep. Susi Hamilton, of New Hanover, in an interview after a meeting.Democrats, who came as a part of their statewide N.C. Forward tour, have been especially focusing on how a budget will cut education. They chose to meet in a lecture hall in a downtown Wilmington campus of Cape Fear Community College, drawing about two dozen people. "Sadly, for a last three years, you have been turning away people because we've been sold out," pronounced CFCC President Eric McKeithan. This year, a college had to turn away 1,400 potential students, McKiethan said. While enrollment is up 35 percent, funding per student has diminished by 18 percent."There is a breaking point," he said. "We jam people in a room I buy Vaseline by a 55-gallon jug," he said, drawing one of a few laughs of a two-hour meeting. Students with bachelor's and master's degrees have been enrolling in a school's truck driving program, and a college's technical and vocational programs have been swamped. In 42 years, McKiethan said, he has never seen such high demand. "If folks have been knocking on a doors and you have been not allowing them to enroll, you really have a bottleneck," pronounced N.C. Rep. Jennifer Weiss, D-Wake.Since August, a Market Street office of a Employment Security Commission has seen 3,000 people, pronounced local manager Walker Biggs. "A lot of that, since a end of June, has been government employees out of work," he said. "We saw a lot more school personnel than you did in a past."New Hanover County Board of Education member Elizabeth Redenbaugh brought a manila folder up with her to speak at length about how a cuts affected a schools. Following a budget cuts, a school system eliminated 218 positions, including 117 teaching assistants. Redenbaugh, likely a newest-minted Democrat in a room, announced Saturday she was changing her party affiliation. Looking at several Democratic legislators sitting on a front-row, she said, "My plea to a General Assembly is to ! please, please please fund us."Redenbaugh painted a dire picture of a state of public schools: cuts to a Pre-K program meant 131 fewer students could attend this year; reduced buses caused students to be late or miss school breakfast; classrooms have been overcrowded; teachers have been personally buying their own supplies; dropout rates have been a major concern. "A high school diploma really is a best economic impulse option you have," she said. "We cannot turn our back on our children. There's no do-over, no reset button. When we've lost them, we've lost them."When a legislators asked for citizens to tell them their stories, Nancy Cox raised her hand.She left Wrightsboro Elementary School teaching job in 2008 because of health problems. She makes 69 percent of her former salary and has had seven surgeries since she left. Cox recently learned she qualifies for food stamps. "Our state should do better for someone who has put in over 30 years," she said. When people say teachers only care about their pensions, it hurts them, Cox said, adding they spend hundreds of dollars a year on classroom reserve without thinking twice."You take every one of those young kids home in your heart every day," she said, pausing as she choked up. "Or you wouldn't do it for 30 years."Last week in Wilmington, Tillis pronounced that lawmakers were disappointed that teaching assistant positions were eliminated, but that Democrats claimed a budget would cut more teachers than it did."Those that opposed a budget pronounced clergyman losses would be in a operation of 20,000 to 30,000, and that seems to have been overstated," Tillis said. Democrats have been quick to say this budget pushes North Carolina to 49th place in terms of per-pupil spending. "This takes us backwards," Weiss said. "Education and jobs have been inextricably linked."Julian March: 343-2099On Twitter: @julian_march