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Tolson: People pleased with lottery

By SUE STUART, Staff Writer






State Rep. Joe Tolson thinks the budget should be done by June, the state will have a lottery and he has cast a jaundiced eye at education cuts, preferring more efficiency measures.

Tolson, D-Edgecombe, said Monday that the Senate has nearly completed its work on the budget and after a meeting with the Senate budget committee, it should be wrapped up by the end of June and then there will be a couple of weeks of touch ups and revisions - "a couple of weeks of cleanup" he said.


Tolson believes the state will have a full lottery, comparable to other states, because all the polls he has seen indicate that as many as 60 to 70 percent of residents want the bill passed. The bill passed the House and is with the Senate now for revision or additions. It didn't pass the House last year, but this session the House has a Democratic majority and Gov. Mike Easley has been pushing the passage of the bill.

"I've had more people tell me they're pleased," he said. "We certainly want it to go helping us build more schools and using it for the advancement of education. What I'm advocating is leaving it as it is."

Tolson is opposed to drastic education cuts because they would have a harmful effect of community colleges in particular. He said the community colleges in particular meet the training needs of people looking for new jobs.

"I'm always in favor of efficiency moves," Tolson said. "Things like combining programs would work. North Carolina is a growing state. We have a lot of people moving here and we expected a lot of education enrollment growth."


Legislators are looking at slashing about $245 million next year from the state's universities, community colleges and public schools. Public schools have been asked to suggest reductions of up to 4 percent which accounts for more than two-thirds of the funding for most schools. The cuts are being discussed in the face of a lottery generating as much as $400 million for education.

On Sunday, The Associate Press reported that at least five members of the House have removed their names from a recent bill that would give children of illegal immigrants in-state tuition at North Carolina universities and community colleges.

Tolson was one of the House members who withdrew his support.

"After looking at the bill, it looked like it needed more study," Tolson said. "We don't want to displace legal citizens. There is the cost factor, and I got some e-mails from people saying the bill may displace their children from going to college.

"Immigrant kids are here because their parents are here. They need to be better educated because that would mean fewer problems for society as a whole."

When the bill was announced last week, former Gov. Jim Hunt returned to the General Assembly to show his support, but opponents have dominated the debate. Some legislators said they had signed onto the bill too soon.

Not forgetting his support of renewable fuels - a bill was passed last year to give special tax consideration to producers of ethanol and other renewable fuels - Tolson said he expects the announcement of a hydrogen fuel plant in Northampton County soon.

"We're running out of oil," Tolson said. "I don't think you'll see gas go below $2 gallon for a long time. Our supplies are becoming limited."