06/08/07

MEDICAID DEAL: It may be a while before an agreement is reached on legislation to relieve counties of their Medicaid costs. Sen. Dan Clodfelter, D-Mecklenburg, predicted Thursday that an agreement would be reached, but said it is unlikely a final Senate proposal will be unveiled next week. Senate Democrats hashed over various proposals behind closed doors this week, and House leaders are being consulted about the ideas. So far, though, no consensus appears to have emerged.

Clodfelter and Sen. Tony Rand, D-Cumberland, have put forward competing proposals. Clodfelter's plan calls for a near-even swap of various local government revenues in exchange for taking over the roughly 5 percent of Medicaid costs that counties pick up. Rand's proposal would take the revenue from a full penny of the sales tax that now goes to local governments in exchange for fully taking over the state portion of Medicaid, a trade that would initially net the state a half billion dollars. In exchange, counties could approve another 1 percent local-option sales tax. North Carolina counties are now paying more than $500 million in Medicaid costs, and rural counties say they cannot keep pace with the rising costs. (THE INSIDER, 6/08/07)

BUDGET NEGOTIATIONS: House and Senate budget writers met Thursday to begin working out the differences between spending plans approved by the two chambers. Subcommittees on issues ranging from education and health care to capital projects reviewed the budget proposals but largely didn't make decisions. The two sides hope to get a roughly $20 billion plan for next year to Gov. Mike Easley by July 1. (THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, 6/07/07

 

UNC ONLINE: UNC officials unveiled a one-stop Web site Thursday that offers students 130 online-degree, certificate and licensure programs in the 16-campus system. UNC President Erskine Bowles called University of North Carolina Online "a gigantic deal" for the university and the state. The collection of online academic programs on the site, online.northcarolina.edu, is one of the largest in the United States. It means UNC will compete directly with the for-profit University of Phoenix.

“I ask you, if you were a customer, if you were a student, and you wanted to get a master’s degree in nursing, would you rather get it from a real university like the University of North Carolina, or would you rather get it from some virtual university?" Bowles asked. "And if you were going to hire that person, would you rather hire somebody who had been taught by the University of North Carolina or somebody who had been taught by a virtual university? I think this is a great opportunity for us." (THE NEWS & OBSERVER, 6/08/07)

GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS: High school students beginning with the freshman class of 2009-2010 will have to complete an extra math course under course requirements adopted Thursday by the state Board of Education. The board backed off of an initial plan that would have required all students to take two foreign language courses after advocates for art and vocational courses complained that it would harm their programs. Under the new plan, two of a student’s six electives must be some combination of art, foreign language and career and technical, also known as vocational, courses.

The plan encourages students to take four elective courses in one of those three areas or in Advanced Placement and other courses geared for the college-bound. The new requirements are aimed at helping students secure better jobs and more college training in a globally competitive economy, board members said. The requirement increases the math requirement from three to four courses. Board chairman Howard Lee said he hopes to see the standards tighten further in coming years, particularly by requiring more foreign language. "It's just a baby step, and we've only just started," Lee said. (Peggy Lim, THE NEWS & OBSERVER, 6/07/07)