For over a century liberals had control of North Carolina’s budget. In the 2000s their tax-and-spend philosophy took root at the General Assembly, growing into a sizable problem for North Carolina schools at the arrival of the 2008 recession. By then, the harvest of debt and dramatic cuts to education spending was bitter enough that the people of North Carolina took an axe to the tree of big government and planted a different sapling at the General Assembly — at last, a conservative governing philosophy saw the light of day.

Among the changes brought by the new conservative leadership was a commitment to smart, forward thinking growth in education spending.

You read that right, conservatives responsibly increased education funding, in stark contrast to their immediate predecessors. 

Total appropriations on K-12 from North Carolina’s general fund reached just over $8 billion in the 2008-09 fiscal year, and in the following two fiscal years that number dropped first to $7,336,220,568 in 2009-10, then to $7,277,494,587 in 2010-11, the final fiscal year under liberal leadership at the NCGA. 

That was an almost 10% drop in the space of two fiscal years. And it hasn’t happened since then. 

Starting with the 2010-11 fiscal year, there has been steady, controlled growth in K-12 spending (reaching $11,949,016,128 in FY 2024-25) while staying in line with the overall revenue generated by the state.

That increased investment is not a “throw money at the problem” approach many progressives favor today, but instead represents targeted investments meant to improve funding directly tied to students, not the school systems.

Some of those investments:

• Average teacher pay in North Carolina is now at $61,449 per the NC Department of Public Instruction;
• Increased Opportunity Scholarship funding by over $200 million each fiscal year, giving students and families of all economic backgrounds the ability to choose the school that’s best for them; and
• Over $170 million in school safety funding just in the last 4 fiscal years

The significance of these accomplishments by conservative leaders — while cutting taxes and saving money (to avoid a repeat of the 2008 recession) — benefits all North Carolinians.