In a series of rallies across North Carolina, Governor Perdue is calling for protecting public schools in the
state budget. Here are excerpts of her remarks:

“I applaud the General Assembly for their work to put a budget together. But – and that’s a big word – in North Carolina we must act boldly to protect the classroom... We cannot and must not cripple education. Cutting education means cutting short our
economic future...That’s why I call on the General Assembly to make smart, tough cuts in the budget and to raise the revenue necessary to protect North Carolina’s classrooms... We will cut deep. We will do more with less. But as state leaders we cannot increase class size, we cannot lay off teachers and we cannot sacrifice our economic future.”