Last week, NCGA Republicans finally got the job done– they passed a budget. 

Due on July 1, 2025, the budget was over a year late. And while there was some good stuff in the bill– like modest teacher raises, Medicaid funding, and Hurricane Helene relief– it still fell a bit short of fully investing in our state in the way that North Carolinians deserve. Let’s take a look at where NCGA Republicans landed. 

Public School Funding: C-    

Let’s start with the good news: teachers will receive an average 8% raise. It falls short of the 11% that Gov. Stein initially called for, but it’s a decent bump for the educators that provide so much to North Carolina students. 

But these raises are not retroactive– meaning that teachers will lose out on the money they would have made if Republicans had passed a budget on time. And while the budget also gives educators a small bonus, it doesn’t cover the out of pocket expenses that they put into their jobs. North Carolina educators spend an average of $1,632 on classroom supplies for their students each year– second most in the country. 

And unfortunately, NCGA Republicans included provisions that will make it harder to fund public schools moving forward. They pledged to give a whopping $825 million in taxpayer dollars per year to private school vouchers. Private school vouchers funnel money away from public schools to primarily wealthy families. 85% of students receiving vouchers have never attended a public school. The program is welfare for the wealthy, and it robs public school students and educators of the resources they need to thrive. 

The budget offers a temporary fix to mask long-term problems. “Hope is what starts a teaching profession. Support sustains it,” said one teacher. “Every day, we’re giving everything we’ve got, but quietly wondering how long we can afford to keep doing it.”    

Public Health: C-  

Congressional Republicans have done all they can to kill Medicaid, cutting over $900 billion from the program last summer. The NC budget does fill the gap– but only for a year. It also offers some funding to help keep SNAP afloat, but in doing so, it implements more hurdles for working families to access food assistance. 

The state budget also provides funding for a rural health program, the Healthy Opportunities Pilot (HOP); but again, Republicans offered just enough money to keep the initiative alive. North Carolinians have been advocating for HOP because it has achieved remarkable results in a short period of time. By providing Medicaid beneficiaries with services tied to social determinants of health– like fresh food, the removal of household mold, and rides to doctors appointments– HOP improved rural residents’ health while saving the state money on healthcare. Republicans defunded the program anyway, giving it about $55 million less than what communities requested. 

Republicans also gave over $9 million in taxpayer dollars to anti-abortion organizations. They cut hundreds of positions from the Department of Health and Human Services, and they failed to fully fund the state’s mental health care system. Overall, NC Republicans kept some key programs on life support, but questions remain for the future.   

Public Safety and Law Enforcement: C+

Law enforcement saw the most significant raises in the state budget. Highway patrol got an average 15% raise, state law enforcement got 16%, and the Department of Adult Correction got funding for everything from medical equipment for inmates, to body armor for correction staff. 

But oddly enough, the bill did withhold public safety funding from one the state’s largest counties– Wake. The only explanation is that Republicans were likely playing politics. Wake County, which leans left, is responsible for investigating political corruption in Raleigh, and Republicans have made it the most understaffed prosecutor’s office in the state. Strange coincidence right? 

Government Services: D+ 

The budget eliminated over 1,000 state government positions and got rid of entire departments like the Office of Health Equity and the Office of Civil Rights. State employees only saw a 3% raise, which doesn’t keep up with inflation and doesn’t help retain the public servants who keep our state running. Republicans wanted to make cuts somewhere, and state employees seem to be bearing the brunt of them. 

Data Centers: A

The budget eliminates tax exemptions for data centers in regard to electricity use. Big tech companies have been chomping at the bit  to hoard resources in communities across the country, threatening to reduce energy supply and increase household costs. By eliminating  tax exemptions, tech companies will be asked to pay their fair share for using up local community resources. 

Hurricane Helene Relief: A

Two years after Helene, Western North Carolina is still rebuilding– largely because of President Trump and Hurricane Helene Recovery Czar Michael Whatley’s failures to deliver FEMA funding. The budget includes more than $700 million for Helene recovery, providing critical funding for housing, infrastructure, and disaster relief. Kudos to the NCGA for stepping in to help clean up Michael Whatley’s mess, but more work is left to be done at the federal level to fully fund the rebuild.   

The Riders: F 

Unfortunately, NC Republicans couldn’t help themselves from tossing some unrelated provisions into the budget. In maybe the coldest provision in the whole 634-page budget, Republicans banned the NC State Bar Association from giving money to civil legal aid groups. These aren’t taxpayer dollars we’re talking about– this is funding from the attorneys themselves that Republicans have banned from being used to support low-income North Carolinians facing issues with housing, domestic violence, and immigration. The cuts will likely amount to around $12 million. 

Republicans also included a bunch of anti-DEI measures, and as well as some power grabs around appointment powers meant to benefit Republicans. They weren’t coy about it either. “We agree with those folks on more policy items than we do the governor, and so would rather see them have those appointments,” said House Speaker Destin Hall. 

“I wish the bill were exclusively a budget bill that deals with what are the financial needs of the state, in order to serve people, to keep them safe, to educate them, to ensure they have health care,” Gov. Stein said. “But the legislature cannot hold itself back.” 

To be fair, they did show some restraint. They held themselves back from fully funding healthcare, public schools, and public safety. 

At the end of the day, we will take a budget over no budget. But we need to see this for what it is– a first step. There’s more work to be done, and we need to elect leaders to the NCGA who will do it.