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SOURCE: The Daily Tar Heel
01.22.07
Basnight hesitant on system tuition cap
By: Brendan Brown, Assistant State & National Editor
With the state legislature booked to reconvene in three days, Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight, D-Dare, expressed opposition to the UNC system's tuition cap during a press conference Friday.
The cap, passed by the system Board of Governors in October, is designed to coax funding from the legislature. It places a limit on tuition increases at 6.5 percent.
While the senator acknowledged complaints from university leaders about the funding needs of campus growth, he said the cap should not be forced upon the General Assembly - which has the final say on tuition increases.
"I don't think we should have to abide by the cap," Basnight said, "If we have an opportunity to do something then we will."
Basnight said that the cap would have little effect in poor schools where the majority of students have subsidized tuition, and that UNC schools have done well in the past decade with tuition increases.
Basnight's reservations about a state government payout to UNC came as part of an overall focus on prudent spending for 2007.
At the top of his agenda were reforms in Medicaid and secondary public education, which he said will help stimulate economic growth in the state's poorest counties.
Medicaid: the first priority
A failure to restructure local government responsibilities in Medicaid would constitute a failure for the 2007 N.C. General Assembly, Basnight said.
North Carolina is unique in requiring county governments to share the cost of Medicaid - a system which is taxing for counties.
Lightening this burden would give poor counties a chance to renovate their economies, he said.
Also, Basnight expressed interest in a universal health care system similar to that in Massachusetts.
"If North Carolina could develop such a system, I would like that very much."
Public education fix-up
By revamping public education, in tandem with reforming Medicaid, Basnight said he hopes to create skilled-labor economies in struggling areas.
"The world hungers for these jobs that this type of economy builds," he said. "Through education, North Carolina grows and prospers."
Most of the reforms he spoke of, however, were in primary and secondary education: bolstering teacher salaries, addressing drop-out rates and finding new sources of revenue for school systems.
Spending wisely in 2007
Basnight said the crux of all reform efforts will be prudent appropriations, efficient spending and fiscal accountability, elements which he said were lacking in 2006.
The budget is the largest task facing legislators, and the long-time Senate leader will need to pass reforms through the House, where Rep. Joe Hackney, D-Orange, is expected to become the speaker.
"It's not just the money," Basnight said. "It's how you spend it, and do you spend it wisely?"
