Agenda - 05-04-2021; 8-a - Minutes

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4 1 said there was a debate in the House last week on the expansion of school vouchers, and it 2 was used as a strategy to get Republicans on the record mischaracterizing the Constitutional 3 obligation to support sound basic education for every child as it refers to funding private 4 schools, and made the argument that they are trying to achieve the obligation through school 5 vouchers. He said this is all part of a long term strategy of what Commissioner Greene said to 6 show the Legislature is not meeting its obligation, and the Courts should take additional action if 7 and when the legislature does not fully fund it. He said there is a full funding bill being filed and 8 the Governor's budget has been filed and is aggressive on school funding, but it is going to be 9 about what is in the budget negotiations this year, and if the amount recommended meets the 10 court's expectations. He said if it does not, that is why he and other Representatives are trying 11 to work with the litigators to ensure the groundwork is there for them to continue to press the 12 court for action. 13 Senator Foushee said the Senate has been introducing a number of bills that get at 14 funding, and specific aspects of the decision, but getting the bills heard will be no small feat. 15 She said the other thing that hurt was the judge said the court did not mandate what the funding 16 should be because the court cannot do that, but he hoped the legislature would do the right 17 thing and act with a sense of urgency. She said short of changing the leadership by changing 18 the results of the elections, Democrats would not be successful in these efforts. 19 Representative Insko said she believes the Republicans' goal is to transfer public 20 schools to the private sector. She said the per pupil allocation in public schools is $9,000 and 21 $8,000 are being put into the vouchers, which is $1,000 less than what is being spent in public 22 schools. She said there was a lot of talk on the needs of students, not the need of public 23 education. She said the argument is the needs are filled through the private school system 24 rather than the public school system. 25 26 Commissioner Fowler arrived at 8:57 a.m. 27 28 Commissioner McKee read the priority on Broadband/Digital Infrastructure: 29 "Support legislation, funding, and other efforts that provide counties with flexibility and 30 opportunities to support options for increasing access to high-speed internet connectivity 31 and expanding digital infrastructure/broadband capability to the un-served and under- 32 served areas of the state. Access to high speed internet connections will reduce 33 disparities, enhance quality of life for all the State's residents, and broaden opportunities 34 in areas such as education, jobs creation, small business development, health care, 35 civic participation, and growth in farm enterprises." 36 He said the lack of infrastructure and connectivity has become a critical issue and a social 37 justice issue. He said he, and many others, fear that over last year we have reached a 38 crossroads where access to broadband is a requirement. He said he is aware there is some 39 funding that is going to be available to the County. He said Orange County has committed to 40 doing this by forming a Broadband Taskforce. He said more needs to be done than just 41 increasing; it needs to be built out. 42 Representative Meyer said he had a great meeting with the Broadband Taskforce 43 recently and the biggest thing the Commissioners should know is there will be a major 44 announcement from Governor Cooper on this this week or next week. 45 Commissioner Greene thanked Representative Meyer for bringing in his Republican 46 colleague from Union County to the Broadband Taskforce meeting. 47 Senator Foushee said there are bills that were promoted by the North Carolina 48 Association of County Commissioners (NCACC). She said she will push forward Senate Bill 49 689, which will expand County Broadband authority so they can use vertical assets, make 50 grants to providers that are willing to provide service in underserved areas. She said Senate Bill 51 582 provides funding for homes to access Broadband when it is available. She said both of