Remembering Ray Kinsland

We all mourn the passing of our beloved Ray Kinsland, a lifelong service leader and pillar of the Cherokee community.  In 2017, on behalf of Governor Roy Cooper, I had the privilege to present Ray with the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, the highest honor that can be given to a citizen in North Carolina. Let us all take a moment to remember Ray Kinsland, his life of service, and the incredible legacy he leaves us all. Thank you Ray.

Ray Kinsland was joined by his wife, Jerri, for the presentation of the Order of the Long Leaf Pine.

Working to Save Our Job Corps

Last week I sent a letter to  U.S. Department of Labor   Secretary Alexander Acosta  with an invitation to join me for a tour of the  Oconaluftee Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center . I am deeply concerned with the DOL's decision to close this center, and I am working hard to make our local voices heard. I have also sent this invitation to Senator Richard Burr, Senator Thom Tillis, and Representative Mark Meadows. The DOL is currently taking public comments on the Oconaluftee Job Corps closure. If you haven't already done so, please take a moment and submit a comment by clicking here.

Creation Care

I had a great meeting with Jane Laping, Scott Hardin-Nier, and his daughter Olivia last week. Jane, Scott, and Olivia were here in Raleigh representing the Creation Care Alliance of WNC, a faith-based organization answering the spiritual call to protect God's creation. The Creation Care Alliance works closely with Mountain True, a wonderful WNC nonprofit, to protect some of the most beautiful and important natural spaces in our part of the state.

From left to right: Scott Hardin-Nier, myself, Jane Laping, and Olivia Hardin-Nier

Agriculture and Biosciences

Last week I attended an informative joint meeting of the Biosciences Caucus and the Agriculture and Rural Caucus. We heard from several industry speakers about the important role that biosciences are playing in modern agriculture. It was particularly fascinating to hear from Dr. Anne Ballou about her research into the beneficial microbes in an animal's digestive tract and how they can be used to keep their host healthy and thriving without the use of antibiotics. She and her company promote a probiotic approach, rather than an antibiotic approach, to keeping farm animals healthy.

From left to right: Senator Mike Woodard; Anne Ballou, an animal health scientist with the company Premex; myself; and Senator Harper Peterson.

Joe Sam's Notes

Education Truth Tour Last week I had the opportunity to attend the North Carolina Association of Educators' "Education Truth Tour." This event was organized to try and help North Carolinians make some sense out of the deceptive House and Senate budgets. Here are the key takeaways.

1. Insufficient Teacher Funding The House and Senate budgets both fail to bring education funding anywhere near pre-recession levels. Compared to our pre-recession funding for education, the House and Senate budgets equate to:  800 fewer teachers 700 fewer education support professionals 8,400 fewer teaching assistants NOTE: These teacher and support staff losses have all happened while our NC student population has grown by more than 65,000 students.

Governor Cooper's Budget Raises teacher pay to the best in the Southeast and invests $9 million to recruit, train, retain, and support good, quality teachers. The Governor's budget also dedicates $40 million to hire more education support staff, including nurses, psychologists, counselors, social workers, and resource officers.

NOTE: The House Budget claims to give teachers a  4.5% raise, but  the NC Justice Center estimates that raise to  actually be around 3%.

2. We Must Address the Teacher Shortage Since 2015, we have lost on average 4,100 teachers every quarter. Our most experienced teachers need to be retained, and to do so we must reintroduce step pay and reward our veteran teachers. The House budget makes a half-hearted attempt to do this, but the Senate budget completely ignores the issue altogether.

Governor Cooper's Budget Restores step pay to reward veteran teachers and master's pay for teachers with advanced degrees.

3. We Must Reinstate Teaching Fellows To provide our children with the quality education they deserve, we must recruit the best and brightest teachers. The Teaching Fellows program is a fantastic way to train and prepare the next generation of educators. The House and Senate budgets do not include funding to expand the Teaching Fellows program, but they do include provisions to expand the program from 5 to 8 campuses. Without additional funding, they simply fall far short of full implementation to maximize its potential.

Governor Cooper's Budget Invests $4 million to expand the Teaching Fellows with provisions to include any post-secondary institution in the program. With systematic budget cuts and a complete elimination of the Teaching Fellows program by past legislatures, enrollment in teaching programs in our state's universities has dropped 30-40% across the board in recent years. We are at risk of losing an entire generation of teachers if we do not fix this.

4. Our Students Need Up-To-Date Textbooks Textbook funding is still down 40% from pre-recession spending levels in the House and Senate budgets. Our children cannot get the education they need with old, out-of-date textbooks. Additionally, more than 90% of North Carolina teachers use their own money to purchase classroom supplies. That is unacceptable. The House and Senate budgets claim to address this problem, but they would restrict the use of classroom supply funds to a single private, for-profit app.

Governor Cooper's Budget Invests an additional $29 million in new funding for schools to purchase more textbooks, digital resources, instructional supplies, and enhanced digital learning opportunities for students. Additionally, the Governor's budget dedicated $5 million to close the homework gap, and all three budgets would triple the GREAT Grant funding for rural broadband expansion from $10 million to $30 million.

5. All Agree, We Must Fund Infrastructure House and Senate leadership have said on numerous occasions that we must provide more funding for school inf rastructure, but their "SCIF Scam" is not timely, certain, transparent, or fair. Both budgets would skim 4% from the General Fund for the House and Senate leaderships' priority projects, thus  handcuffing this and future budgets from adequately funding education and healthcare. The resulting projects are not timely, certain, transparent, or fair. They are not vetted or scrutinized by the voters. This strategy is just an old fashioned Pork Scam. The Invest NC Bond is clearly a better way to meet our needs.

Governor Cooper's Budget Lays out a forward-thinking, positive path for a voter-approved bond package. The Governor's $3.9 billion   Invest NC Bond is clear, certain, transparent, timely, and fair to all.   It will   invest $2 billion   in our public schools, $500 million in our universities, $500 million   in our community colleges, and $900 thousand   in clean water projects statewide. This November, we know with certainty   if we will receive these funds! Now is the time for a strong bond package. Interest rates are historically low, and we are currently retiring old debt, so we can bring on new debt without increasing our overall load. This protects our AAA bond rating. The benefits of this bond will move North Carolina forward and reward our citizens many times over. It is a smart and critical investment.

Sincerely,

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P.S. check out our legislative web page at www.joesamqueennc.com . You can find all of my previous newsletters and more!