Perdue vetoes state budget - WRAL

Rep. Joe Hackney, D-Orange, backed the governor's veto. "Gov. Perdue placed herself squarely in the company of North Carolina's great education leaders today when she vetoed the budget Republican legislators put on her desk," he said. The budget bill reduces funding for school administrators and support staff by $120 million and adds money to hire 1,100 new teachers in early grades. Republicans point out this budget spends $300 million more on public schools and $100 million on the University of North Carolina System than an earlier House version. Sen. Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, issued a statement blasting the governor's move as partisan pandering. “The same governor who claims to champion job creation and public education has vetoed a bipartisan budget that does more for both causes than her own proposal," he said.