Patricia J. Lang: Use surplus to fund public education

Regarding the Feb. 10 Under the Dome article “N.C. has a budget surplus. What should it do with the extra money?”: Since state budget officials announced a revenue estimate projected to be $552.5 million, I suggest that part of the surplus be injected into the public schools to help them meet the new reduced classroom sizes in grades K-3 in 2017-2018, as mandated by the state legislature. Otherwise, some schools have stated that they would have to cut Arts and PE programs to the detriment of these young students.

However, increasing public school funding would allow hiring of new teachers and allocation of new space to accommodate the sensible reduction in class size and subsequent improvements in education of our youth. Rather than passing House Bill 13 which will revert to the former, larger class sizes, let’s invest in the future of North Carolina.

Given the taxpayer dollars that now go to charter schools, this would be a worthy expenditure for public education.

This story was originally published February 16, 2017 at 7:49 PM with the headline "Patricia J. Lang: Use surplus to fund public education."