Governor Cooper Proposes Budget - Includes School Social Workers and More

• Closing the Coverage Gap for Healthier North Carolinians and a Healthier Economy
  Recommends expanding Medicaid eligibility beginning October 1, 2021 to provide healthcare access for more than 600,000 North Carolinians, help rural hospitals keep their doors open, address the opioid epidemic, and secure North Carolina’s share of federal resources that will inject over $5 billion in direct investment into the state.
• Investing in Early Learning and Development
  Invests more than $78 million in early education and child development. Increases Child Care Subsidy for children from low-income working families to receive high-quality care. Increases NC Pre-K reimbursement rates and slots using lottery proceeds so that more children can attend Pre-K. Increases Smart Start by 13 percent using lottery receipts to support families and children in all 100 counties.Increases funding by over $10 million for individualized early intervention services.
• Strengthening Supports and Oversight to Serve Vulnerable Adults
  Expands nutrition, transportation, and in-home aid services to older and vulnerable adults with over $7 million in increased state funding. Invests over $4 million to improve state oversight of long-term care facilities and enhance county Adult Protective Services units. Expands rental assistance and housing initiatives for disabled, homeless and low-income adults by over $6 million.
• Helping People with Disabilities Live, Work, and Learn in Their Home Communities
  Increases funding by over $15 million to expand housing and employment supports for individuals at risk of institutionalization. Invests $1 million in state-of-the-art adaptive equipment and assistive technologies to help people with disabilities live, work, and be educated in their communities.
• Supporting Abused and Neglected Children
  Provides $8 million to improve child welfare services and add critical staffing and training to improve safety and outcomes for children experiencing abuse or neglect. Invests $53 million in continued enhancements and statewide implementation of the Child Welfare Data System to improve monitoring and coordinate service delivery.
• Improving Wages for Direct Care and Early Childhood Workforces
  Invests $60 million in improving wages for direct care workers and early childhood education providers so that individuals who support our most vulnerable adults and nurture our youngest children can also support themselves.
• Addressing Disparities and Promoting Equity
  Directs more than $250 million in Medicaid resources to address social determinants that contribute to health disparities such as a lack of access to food, quality housing, and reliable transportation. Provides over $800,000 to expand the Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities to reduce health inequities among racial and ethnic minorities and other underserved populations. Provides $1.5 million to decrease the impact of implicit bias on students of color and students with disabilities in early childhood.
  

• Helping North Carolina’s People and Communities
  Provides over $21 million over the biennium to support affordable housing and distressed communities. Increases the appropriation for the Housing Trust Fund, the state’s most flexible source of funds for affordable housing, to over $15 million annually, and provides $1.9 million over the biennium to the Local Government Commission within the Department of State Treasurer to support financially distressed local government units. Supports domestic violence and sexual assault shelters through Department of Administration grants and expands the capacity of the Commission of Indian Affairs and the Small Business Enterprise Program.
• Serving Veterans and Military Families
  Supports the operation of the new State Veterans Home in Kernersville and provides an increase in funding for scholarships to children of veterans who are deceased, disabled, or combat POW/MIA to attend North Carolina schools. Funds additional positions and resources to help maintain the four veterans’ cemeteries.
  

Education

Supporting Student Well-Being
Provides $80 million to allow districts to hire more nurses, counselors, psychologists, and social workers to support student physical and mental health. Invests $3.9 million to provide free school meals for up to 97,500 students and $6 million for schools to adopt a community schools model to address out of school barriers to learning.

Justice and Public Safety

Fostering Successful Re-Entry
Builds on existing justice reinvestment strategies with a total of $11.6 million over the biennium to address the needs of justice-involved individuals under probation, parole, or post-release supervision or who are leaving confinement and re-entering communities. Includes $6.1 million for new positions to supervise justice-involved individuals on probation, parole, and post-release supervision and $5.5 million to expand capacity for re-entry personnel and programming, reducing the likelihood of recidivism.

Community Corrections

Provides funding for four Social Workers. Funding these positions will expand Community Corrections capacity to monitor offenders on probation and parole and ensure that they are adhering to their treatment plans and learning to live as constructive citizens in the community.

Natural and Economic Resources

Advancing Clean Energy Development and Business
Dedicates a total of over $95 million over the biennium to advance clean energy development and a clean energy economy, including $50 million over the biennium to local governments and schools for planning and implementing clean energy and transportation projects; $14.5 million in FY 2021-22 for clean energy economic development, from start-up to expansion of existing businesses; and $25 million for the Low-Income Clean Energy Program to expand access to clean energy and energy efficiency improvements in low-income households, saving energy and reducing utility bills.

Read full budget recommendations here.