The North Carolina House is seeking higher worker wages, child care and voucher money in the budget bill

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina teachers and state employees would get bigger pay raises than currently planned, while child care providers could access some financial aid as federal aid ends in a state budget measure advanced Tuesday by House Republicans.

They are going it alone on a bill that would adjust the second year of the state government’s biennial budget passed last fall, as private negotiations with Senate GOP counterparts over a consensus spending plan have stalled in recent weeks they shook. Senate Majority Leader Phil Berger complained that GOP leaders in his House want to spend more than Republicans in his chamber and reserves want.

So House Speaker Tim Moore decided to move a House-only measure through his chamber this week to highlight their priorities and get senators to act. But the move raises the threat that lawmakers could adjourn this summer without a budget bill containing sweeping adjustments.

A top House budget writer downplayed the current differences with the Senate, suggesting the two sides were only a few hundred million dollars apart on spending, much of it over teacher pay, a retiree bonus proposed and Medicaid provider rates.

“It’s a matter now of taking some of the items that are still — I call them bottlenecks — and resolving them as best we can and then getting back on track,” Rep. Donny Lambeth, a Forsyth County Republican and co-director of budget. president, he said after the budget committee approved the $31.7 billion plan. Lambeth hoped to reach a compromise next week.

The bill would set aside $135 million in one-time funds to replace Washington’s Child Care Stabilization Grants, which began during the pandemic but are set to end in July. It falls short of the $300 million that some child care advocates say is needed to prevent centers from raising tuition, laying off workers or even closing. The Senate was less inclined to fill the gap.

House Republicans said the $135 million equals 75 percent of the stabilization grants currently received and gives officials time while they look for a long-term solution.

In the second year of the enacted budget, state employees are set to receive 3 percent raises next year, with teachers also getting 3 percent raises on average. But under the House plan, which will make its way through three committees Tuesday, state employees would instead see 4 percent raises, while corrections and probation and parole officers would get 9 percent raises.

And teachers would instead receive average raises of 4.4 percent, according to Moore’s office, with early-career instructors getting the biggest percentage increases. Base salaries for first-year teachers would increase from $39,000 this school year to $44,000 in the fall — a move to make North Carolina more attractive to new teachers.

The measure includes provisions approved separately by the Senate last month that would provide more than $460 million more to the state’s Opportunity Scholarship program to help eliminate the waiting lists of nearly 55,000 students who qualify for scholarships this fall to attend K-12 private schools. There has been a massive surge in applications for the program after lawmakers last year eliminated income eligibility limits that limited recipients. The language would also address the ongoing higher demand for scholarships.

The bill also spends $350 million already in a state Medicaid reserve fund to address higher-than-anticipated enrollment and $150 million in another reserve to pay for transportation projects designed for a new Toyota electric battery plant being built in Randolph County that will employ thousands of people.

The bill would head to the Senate after planned House votes on Wednesday and Thursday. Berger suggested that his chamber might not offer a competing plan, but could send the Senate home indefinitely if an agreement is not reached with the House by June 30.

Any final spending measures would go to Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, who offered his own budget plan in April. He wants to block the expansion of the school voucher program, give bigger raises to teachers and state employees and spend hundreds of millions of dollars more on child care and early education initiatives. But Republicans hold narrow veto-proof majorities in both chambers, meaning they don’t need Cooper’s support if they stay united.

Democratic Rep. Julie von Haefen of Wake County called the unveiling of the House spending plan “a piece of theater” because she said it would likely be ignored by the Senate.

“This is where we go through the motions,” von Haefen told reporters. “They’re not very serious about actually getting things done in this building.” She said House Democrats will try to offer amendments and advance Democratic priorities in the floor debate.