The 2011-2012 biennium of the North Carolina General Assembly convened on January 26, 2011. Last month, we caught up with NC House District 38 representative Deborah Ross to find out what we could expect from this years session. Now we turn to the Senate side of the General Assembly for an update.

I got a chance to interview  Senator Josh Stein. He represents District 16 in the North Carolina General Assembly and is currently serving his second term. Most of South West Raleigh is in the District 16 boundary.

As long as I’ve known Senator Stein, he’s been focused on public service and education. He serves on the Commerce, Education/Higher Education, Finance, Judiciary I, and Rules and Operations of the Senate committees. I was curious how the General Assembly is going to maintain quality education for North Carolina schools with the budget deficit that our state is facing. Senator Stein responds to that and other topics like Dorothea Dix and the economy.

1) I know education is very important to you. What would you like to see come out of the Legislature this year that would improve the education system for North Carolina?

Public education is the most important investment the state makes. North Carolina has among the best community college and public university systems in the nation.  Both are considered best values because of the priority we as a state have placed on them. Over the past two years, even as we faced a $4.5 billion shortfall, we fully funded enrollment growth at both community colleges and the universities. We also increased need based financial aid so as to keep open the doors of higher education and keep alive the hope for a better life for hard-working families all across the state.

In addition to continuing to prioritize education in the budgeting process, we need to make sure that we do the best by our students with the dollars that we spend. Last year, North Carolina won a coveted and competitive Race to the Top grant worth hundreds of millions of dollars in part because of reforms the General Assembly enacted. We gave school systems much greater authority to deal with failing schools. We required school systems to use technology to identify students ready for academic success. We fail students when we don’t challenge them to the fullest of their capabilities. The state had already made available to school districts software by SAS to help identify which kids are ready for algebra in 8th grade.  Now, schools systems are required to use it.

There is a public debate on the role of charter schools going on at the moment.  I attend the Senate Committee on Education, where I sit on the subcommittee that is considering this legislation. My view is that charter schools can be a positive component of ensuring that public school students have access to quality education. North Carolina has approximately 100 charter schools in operation, which is the statutory limit. I believe that we should raise the cap, but that we need to do more than just that. We should hold failing charter schools accountable and we must ensure that charter schools, like other public schools, are open to everyone regardless of background or financial circumstance by requiring that they offer transportation and reduced price lunches to those students who need them.

The session has just opened, but I’ve heard a few education proposals being batted around that North Carolina cannot afford to enact. We cannot close the doors of higher education to young people trying to make a better life for themselves by capping enrollments.  A state that eats its seed corn will not win in the 21st Century global economic competition. We cannot lay off teachers and teacher assistants forcing our kids to learn in overcrowded classrooms.  Our kids are not sardines to be squeezed in a can. We cannot authorize vouchers that take our tax dollars away from public schools and give them to wealthy families wanting to send their children to private schools that middle class North Carolinians can’t afford.

We cannot go backward, even if these are tough times.

2) What’s the latest on the Dorothea Dix property?

Last week, Senator Blue and I introduced legislation disapproving the closure of Dorothea Dix.  Earlier, Reps. Ross, Weiss, and Jackson introduced the companion legislation in the House. Wake County and the state need more, not fewer mental health beds, so it is my sincere hope that the General Assembly adequately funds mental health in the budget.

3) What’s being done to improve the economy in South West Raleigh?

North Carolina, like the rest of the country, is in the midst of challenging times. Given that we’re turning the corner, it is easy to forget how jarring the recession was that hit our state. In the 12 months of 2008, the unemployment rate in North Carolina doubled from 5.4% to 10.8%.

Over the last two years, we at the General Assembly took a number of steps to get the state back on the right track. We invested more than $100 million in small business tax relief and job recruitment funds. We supported industries of the future, like clean energy, bio technology, interactive digital media, regenerative medicine, and cancer research.

The first bill I introduced rewarded investments in renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, biomass, hydro and geothermal. These efforts are bearing fruit.  The North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association census showed that employment in the clean tech sector grew a whopping 22% last year. In total jobs created in all sectors last year, only 3 states ranked higher than North Carolina. North Carolina is heading in the right direction, even if we aren’t where we want to be yet.

To get us where we want to go, we must continue to prioritize job creation and economic development. That is why I find it perplexing that in one of the first actions of the Senate this past Monday, the new majority chose to slash funding for job recruitment and business development by $75 million. That’s just penny-wise and pound-foolish.

We must continue these efforts to create jobs, as well as to build the industries of the future. We must continue to support small businesses as they struggle to grow in this tough economy and reward them for hiring new workers. We need to encourage banks to restart lending.  We should consider allowing banks to deduct interest earned on loans made to qualified small businesses. We must do all these things, but the single most important step that the state can take to prepare North Carolina for future economic growth is to continue to invest in the state’s greatest asset – our people.

Year after year, North Carolina is named the best place in nation to do business by a number of different groups and magazines.  Note that we are not named the cheapest place to do business, but the best. That’s because over time North Carolina has invested in its future – invested in the people of our state.

4) Is there anything else the folks in South West Raleigh should know about?

I am honored to represent South West Raleigh in the State Senate. If folks have ideas or questions, please contact me at [email protected] or 919 715 6400.  Thanks.

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