At 3 a.m., NC Senate GOP strips education funding from Democrats districts

[wildeyed]

This was horrific, even by NC GOP standards. They stole the votes of black and urban voters and now they are blatantly siphoning their tax dollars OUT of our needy districts and into theirs. They have always taken from the more affluent urban Democratic districts, but at least we can afford it. But this is straight-up evil. Phil Berger and his gang are stealing from the neediest kids to satisfy petty political vendettas.

Either the courts fix the gerrymandering and give us back some representations, or I see serious resistance in the future. I don't see why I have to pay state taxes if I don't get a say in how they are allocated.

Most re-shares of any article I have seen on #NCpol and #NCGA Twitter tags for ages too.

The session finally resumed around 3 a.m., and Republican Sen. Brent Jackson introduced a new budget amendment that he explained would fund more pilot programs combating the opioid epidemic. He cited “a great deal of discussion” about the need for more opioid treatment funding.

Jackson didn’t mention where the additional $1 million would come from: directly from education programs in Senate Democrats’ districts and other initiatives the minority party sought.

Sen. Erica Smith-Ingram’s rural district in northeastern North Carolina took the biggest hit from the amendment. It strips $316,646 from two early college high schools in Northampton and Washington counties, and it specifically bans state funding from supporting a summer science, math and technology program called Eastern North Carolina STEM.

snip....

The Northampton County program has received about $180,000 in recent years to serve 90 high school students, many of whom are African-American and from low-income families.

“I don’t know what motivated the amendment, but it will have a devastating effect on an area that is already suffering,” Smith-Ingram said Saturday, adding that the STEM summer program would shut down if the provision is in the final budget.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article150397682.html#storylink=cpy