Plan could mean no teacher cuts, legislator says

RALEIGH (By TRAVIS FAIN, Winston-Salem Journal) - The legislature can balance the state budget without laying off a single public school teacher or teaching assistant, state Rep. Bryan Holloway, a Stokes [County] Republican and a key member of the House's education budget team, said Wednesday.

Whether it will actually do so remains to be seen.

High-level House and Senate negotiators have begun work on the budget, sometimes in public meetings, sometimes in secret. Holloway wouldn't reveal details Wednesday, but said there's a solution that protects teaching jobs and avoids extending the temporary sales-tax increase Gov. Bev Perdue proposed in her budget.

Holloway, who co-chairs the House Appropriations Subcommittee, said the budget deal being negotiated should be ready in "two weeks, maybe three weeks tops."