Send Today!

* First Name

* Last Name

* Email Address

Street Address

City

State

* ZIP

* required

Text alerts are optional, but a great way to stay up-to-date with MomsRising on the go!

Get SMS Alerts Standard text message charges may apply

Not ? Click here.

Tell Your Friends About This Campaign

Enter email addresses separated by commas.
Click here to preview or add a note to your message to friends.

Subject: NC cutting teachers, assts, early learning programs Your message to friends:

Hi,

Did you see this? The NC Senate has passed a budget that will cut even more from education and early learning programs. I just sent a quick note to my Representative to tell them these cuts are unacceptable. Can you send one, too?

Thanks!

Friend

****

Dear Friend,

I’m going to cut right to it-NC’s children are in trouble. On Thursday, after very limited debate, the NC Senate passed a budget plan that is very bad for our state’s children.

The Senate budget continues NC’s race to the bottom where our children are concerned, cutting even deeper into education and early learning programs already weakened by several years of ever worsening cuts. Instead of creating ladders for our state’s children, our Senate leaders are busy building chutes.

At this point, our best chance to stop these devastating cuts rests with the NC House.

Take a moment right now to let your Representative know that the Senate’s budget is unacceptable and that you oppose cutting essential investments in our children.

Send your letter here: http://action.momsrising.org/letter/Housebudget/?source=taf

The worst of the cuts are described below. Huge thanks to our partners at the Covenant with NC’s Children, Action for Children North Carolina, and Wake Cares 4 Kids for their assistance with budget analysis.

K-12 Education

Cuts even more teachers from the classroom. ($284 million) Since 2008, we’ve lost 6,148 NC teachers and 5,609 assistants, according to the Department of Public Instruction.
Eliminates teachers’ assistants in grades 2 and 3. ($142 million)
Reduces the number of social workers, counselors, and psychologists in our schools. ($16.9 million)
Reduces instructional supplies already in short supply thanks to previous years’ cuts. ($6.9 million)
Eliminates the maximum class size requirement for K-3, allowing for overcrowded classes and less personalized instruction.
Cuts Limited English Proficiency programs ($6 million) and supplemental funds for low wealth districts. ($14.9 million)[1]

Early Learning Programs

Reorganizes our nationally-recognized early childhood system (Smart Start and NC Pre-K) and transfers the funds to the Department of Social Services.
Effectively cuts Smart Start by 42%. ($37.3 million)[2]

This will reduce the availability of PreK services for disadvantaged children in the state and reduce program quality as child care subsidies do not have the same quality standards.

A cut of this magnitude also means that some communities may lose their local Smart Start partnership. As innovative as they are, many Smart Start Local Partnerships cannot sustain losing close to half of their funding and still provide services, pay the rent, and keep the lights on. Not only would this be a unprecedented blow to Smart Start, it would be devastating for the early child education infrastructure which relies on Smart Start to ensure program quality and community collaboration.

The cut comes by eliminating the Smart Start Subsidy and Scholarship program, which in addition to supporting families with access to high quality care, helps drive higher quality across all child care programs in the state. It also provides family support programming that helps parents understand child development and connects them to community resources. Child care subsidy as administered by Smart Start is about more than workforce support; it is about children attending high-quality programs that prepare them for success in school.

These cuts are unacceptable. They jeopardize our basic infrastructure and undermine efforts to ensure that NC’s children are prepared to succeed.

Let your Representative know right now that you oppose these cuts and expect more from them than our children got from the Senate.

Send your letter now! http://action.momsrising.org/letter/Housebudget/?source=taf

Our children’s and our state’s future are being put at risk. They need us to raise our voices and make sure they are heard.

Together we are a powerful voice for NC’s children.

-Beth, Melea, Tracy, Sarah, and the whole NC MomsRising team

[1] S402- Appropriations Act of 2013

[2] Ibid.

Add a short note (optional, up to 500 characters):

We'll keep you posted via email on this and other MomRising.org campaigns

URGENT: NC’s kids are in trouble!

Take action now! Tell your state Representative that the cuts to education and early learning approved in the Senate version of the budget are unacceptable.

NC's kids can't afford any more cuts!

Dear Representative,

As your constituent and a MomsRising.org member, I’m writing today to urge you to oppose the cuts to education and early learning programs approved in the Senate version of the budget.  Our children deserve better, and I expect better from the House than they received in the Senate.

Please vote NO on the proposed changes to NC PreK and Smart Start!  The Senate budget cuts Smart Start funding by more than 40% and amounts to a reorganization of how we serve the needs of young children in North Carolina by moving that funding to solely child care subsidies administered by the Department of Social Services.

It will reduce PreK availability for disadvantaged children in the state and reduce program quality as child care subsidies do not have the same quality standards.  It will undermine the entire proven early learning infrastructure for which North Carolina is a national model and jeopardize our ability to ensure that children start school prepared to succeed.

Also, please vote NO on the proposed cuts and changes to K-12 education including:

•Classroom teacher cuts ($284 million).  
•Eliminating teachers’ assistants in grades 2 and 3 ($142 million).
•Reducing the number of instructional support staff (social workers, counselors, and psychologists) in our schools ($16.9 million).
•Reducing instructional supplies ($6.9 million).
•Cutting Limited English Proficiency programs ($6 million) and supplemental funds for low wealth districts ($14.9 million).
•Eliminating the maximum class size requirement for K-3, allowing for overcrowded classes and less personalized instruction.

Investing in our children’s education is the key to their futures and our state’s future.  Please don’t fail us.  Vote NO on these cuts when they come before you in the House.

Sincerely,

G-FKC1JKZLDL

Privacy Policy (the basics): We do not share the information you've given us with unaffiliated groups without your explicit permission. For petitions, letters to the editor, and surveys you've signed or completed, we treat your name, city, state, and comments as public information. We will not make your street address publicly available, but we may transmit it to members of Congress, the President, or other targets specifically noted on the signup page. We will send you updates on this and other important campaigns by email. If at any time you would like to unsubscribe from our email list, you may do so. For our complete privacy policy, click here.