NC’s new governor: More Helene recovery, and scrutiny, for Stein’s administration
Welcome to the governor edition of our Under the Dome newsletter. I’m Dawn Vaughan, The News & Observer’s Capitol bureau chief.
Democratic Gov. Josh Stein was in Boone on Friday for another move his office is making on Helene recovery. Stein and the Dogwood Health Trust held a news conference about a public-private partnership to help small businesses in Western North Carolina hit by Helene.
The new program will fund $30 million in small business grants to businesses that have an annual revenue of up to $2.5 million. The grants will be up to $50,000. Stein said the grants could help small businesses get through the winter months.
To apply for the Western North Carolina Small Business Grant Program, businesses in eligible counties can apply through Appalachian Community Capital. The application period opened Friday and runs through Feb. 21.
National Federation of Independent Business state director Gregg Thompson said Friday that the program will “give local businesses the support they need to keep going,” and encouraged small businesses to “apply for these grants so they can get back on their feet.”
The small business grant program comes two weeks after Stein and the N.C. Department of Commerce expanded a Helene recovery jobs program, which I wrote about in January.
It also comes the same week that two General Assembly meetings scrutinized the unfinished work of the troubled Rebuild NC, which was former Gov. Roy Cooper’s Eastern North Carolina hurricane recovery office, with an eye toward guardrails for Stein’s new Governor’s Recovery Office for Western North Carolina, which focuses on Helene recovery. You can read my colleague Luciana Perez Uribe Guinassi’s coverage of both meetings.
Stein signals education budget priority
While Helene recovery is sure to dominate Stein’s time in office, he also signaled this week another priority during this long legislative session that is now underway: public education. Stein visited Eastern Elementary School in Greenville. In a statement that followed the visit, Stein set the stage for a potential battle with the General Assembly over school funding.
He said “our public schools are the launching pad of our state’s future,” and said he wants to work with the legislature “to ensure that every child has the resources they need to thrive in the classroom and beyond.”
Education funding, including raises for teachers and school personnel, has been central to the budget debate every year when the legislature has been controlled by Republicans, as it is now, and the governor is a Democrat.
Late this past year, the General Assembly gave an additional $500 million to private school vouchers to clear a backlog. Stein opposes the vouchers, which is called the Opportunity Scholarship Program.
Helene recovery and education funding are sure to dominate this year’s budget negotiations.
Stay informed about #ncpol
Listen to our Under the Dome podcast to stay up to date. On our new episode posting Monday, I’m joined by my politics team colleagues, Avi Bajpai, Korie Dean and Kyle Ingram, as we discuss the upcoming redistricting case in federal court, the news Friday of former Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson dropping his defamation lawsuit against CNN, bills about taxes and the UNC Board of Governors.
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