Minutes 04-19-2021 Virtual Legislative Breakfast Meeting

Browse Search

4 Commissioner Greene said this presents a question of separation of powers, and if the legislature or the courts have authority over the other. She said ultimately they need to change the composition of the legislature as Representative Insko said. Representative Meyer said Commissioner Dorosin is one of the litigants in the current case, and he has been coordinating with him on legislation strategy and litigation strategy. He said there was a debate in the House last week on the expansion of school vouchers, and it was used as a strategy to get Republicans on the record mischaracterizing the Constitutional obligation to support sound basic education for every child as it refers to funding private schools, and made the argument that they are trying to achieve the obligation through school vouchers. He said this is all part of a long term strategy of what Commissioner Greene said to show the Legislature is not meeting its obligation, and the Courts should take additional action if and when the legislature does not fully fund it. He said there is a full funding bill being filed and the Governor's budget has been filed and is aggressive on school funding, but it is going to be about what is in the budget negotiations this year, and if the amount recommended meets the court's expectations. He said if it does not, that is why he and other Representatives are trying to work with the litigators to ensure the groundwork is there for them to continue to press the court for action. Senator Foushee said the Senate has been introducing a number of bills that get at funding, and specific aspects of the decision, but getting the bills heard will be no small feat. She said the other thing that hurt was the judge said the court did not mandate what the funding should be because the court cannot do that, but he hoped the legislature would do the right thing and act with a sense of urgency. She said short of changing the leadership by changing the results of the elections, Democrats would not be successful in these efforts. Representative Insko said she believes the Republicans' goal is to transfer public schools to the private sector. She said the per pupil allocation in public schools is $9,000 and $8,000 are being put into the vouchers, which is $1,000 less than what is being spent in public schools. She said there was a lot of talk on the needs of students, not the need of public education. She said the argument is the needs are filled through the private school system rather than the public school system. Commissioner Fowler arrived at 8:57 a.m. Commissioner McKee read the priority on Broadband/Digital Infrastructure: "Support legislation, funding, and other efforts that provide counties with flexibility and opportunities to support options for increasing access to high-speed internet connectivity and expanding digital infrastructure/broadband capability to the un-served and under- served areas of the state. Access to high speed internet connections will reduce disparities, enhance quality of life for all the State's residents, and broaden opportunities in areas such as education, jobs creation, small business development, health care, civic participation, and growth in farm enterprises." He said the lack of infrastructure and connectivity has become a critical issue and a social justice issue. He said he, and many others, fear that over last year we have reached a crossroads where access to broadband is a requirement. He said he is aware there is some funding that is going to be available to the County. He said Orange County has committed to doing this by forming a Broadband Taskforce. He said more needs to be done than just increasing; it needs to be built out. Representative Meyer said he had a great meeting with the Broadband Taskforce recently and the biggest thing the Commissioners should know is there will be a major announcement from Governor Cooper on this this week or next week.