RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A bill heading to North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper’s desk pledges more pre-kindergarten spending and limits on public school class sizes in early grades.
The bill would phase in class-size limits in Moore County Schools and other districts in North Carolina. The bill would keep Moore County Schools from spending millions to hire more teachers for classes up to the third grade in the next school year. The class size reduction would be phased in over a four year period starting in the 2019-2020 school year.
But the bill also alters the state election and ethics board and an agreement Cooper’s office reached over a natural gas pipeline.
The House voted 104-12 on Tuesday for the proposal negotiated between Senate and House Republicans. The Senate already approved the compromise measure late last week.
It’s unclear whether the Democratic Gov. Cooper will sign the bill or veto it. Several House Democrats criticized the measure because it included the unrelated pipeline and elections board provisions and suggested changes to the board could scuttle the entire bill.
GOP Rep. Nelson Dollar was one of bill negotiators. He called the education funding historic and said colleagues should support the measure for the state’s children.
This article was written with the help of the Associated Press.
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