Eleanore Wood

House budget falls short on teacher pay, community support

By Eleanore Wood / May 31, 2017 / Comments Off on House budget falls short on teacher pay, community support

The newly-released House budget proposal merely repackages the same misplaced priorities as the Senate budget, failing to match Gov. Cooper’s plan to raise teacher pay to the national average, expand access to community college and broadband Internet, and combat the opioid crisis. “A budget tells you a lot about someone’s values, and the House proposal shows that…

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What’s Congress up to? Destroying Obamacare for North Carolinians

By Eleanore Wood / May 30, 2017 / Comments Off on What’s Congress up to? Destroying Obamacare for North Carolinians

The Republicans in Congress are actively working to sabotage Obamacare and pass Trumpcare, which would lead to over 23 million people losing their health coverage. The Trump administration has said they may eliminate cost-sharing subsidies, which keep people’s premiums down, which led to North Carolina’s biggest health insurance provider to claim they may increase their…

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NC’s Largest Health Insurance Co. Asks for 23% Rate Hike Due to Trump’s Plan to Shred ACA

By Eleanore Wood / May 26, 2017 / Comments Off on NC’s Largest Health Insurance Co. Asks for 23% Rate Hike Due to Trump’s Plan to Shred ACA

The state’s largest healthcare provider, Blue Cross Blue Shield, is planning a 22.9% rate increase because of Trump’s desire to repeal the ACA and other healthcare providers, like Cigna, are following in their footsteps. However, if Congress decides to keep Obamacare through 2018, BCBS will only increase their rates by 8.8%. The uncertainty of the…

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House budget proposal: More of the same bad priorities

By Eleanore Wood / May 25, 2017 / Comments Off on House budget proposal: More of the same bad priorities

The budget proposal from House Republicans is no better than the Senate version, merely doubling down on the same bad priorities that continue to harm North Carolina public schools under Republican rule. Although lawmakers like to say they’re spending the most money ever on public education in North Carolina, when you take inflation and enrollment growth…

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Trump Proposes Slashes to Financial Aid for College Students

By Eleanore Wood / May 24, 2017 / Comments Off on Trump Proposes Slashes to Financial Aid for College Students

Trump’s budget was released Tuesday and there are some huge budget cuts to education. Included in the education portion of Trump’s budget is a huge cut to federal financial aid for college students. UNC’s former President Molly Broad came out and spoke on the budget cuts, stating that these huge cuts to financial aid will…

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NC GOP Lawmakers Exposed Again for Limiting Voice of Black Voters

By Eleanore Wood / May 23, 2017 / Comments Off on NC GOP Lawmakers Exposed Again for Limiting Voice of Black Voters

Monday the Supreme Court of the United States declared North Carolina’s congressional districts unconstitutional because legislators drew districts based solely on race. This is happening in many Southern states, however, the Supreme Court’s ruling is a warning sign that this is unacceptable. This also means districts drawn solely based on party affiliations will likely face…

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NCGOP Cuts Food Assistance for Thousands of NC Children and Elderly Citizens

By Eleanore Wood / May 19, 2017 / Comments Off on NCGOP Cuts Food Assistance for Thousands of NC Children and Elderly Citizens

The North Carolina GOP added an obscure provision into the budget bill passed through the Senate last week. That obscure provision will lead to over 133,000 elderly people and children to lose their food assistance in North Carolina. The program the NCGOP cut was completely federally funded, meaning they’re not saving the state any money…

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Trump Releases First Education Budget Plan….And it Funds More Private than Public Schools

By Eleanore Wood / May 18, 2017 / Comments Off on Trump Releases First Education Budget Plan….And it Funds More Private than Public Schools

Trump has finally released his first full education budget…and the outlook is not good. He and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’s budget plan includes cuts to work-study programs, public-service loan forgiveness, and funds for mental illness and advanced courses. So where is all this money going? They’re planning to spend $400 million on school choice, meaning…

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NCGOP Cuts Education Funding in the Middle of the Night

By Eleanore Wood / May 15, 2017 / Comments Off on NCGOP Cuts Education Funding in the Middle of the Night

Thursday night the NC Senate debated budget amendments well past midnight. Now out of spite, the Republicans in Raleigh want to cut science and math education programs for low-income students in rural NC. At 3AM Thursday night, Republican Senators introduced a new budget amendment that strips education funding from Democrats’ districts all because Democrats were speaking out against…

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Teachers in North Carolina Forced to Have Multiple Jobs

By Eleanore Wood / May 12, 2017 / Comments Off on Teachers in North Carolina Forced to Have Multiple Jobs

Teachers across North Carolina are speaking out against teacher pay by sharing their personal stories. Most teachers work two jobs in order to sustain a paycheck that supports them. These teachers are forced to wake up in the early hours of the morning, spend an entire day at school and go to multiple part-time jobs…

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