Republicans in the six House Appropriations Subcommittees rolled out their budget proposals Tuesday afternoon. Party leaders say the plan is for the subcommittees to vote on their portions of the budget by April 21. Then combine the sections into an omnibus budget bill with floor votes by the end of April. The budget would then move into the Senate, with a goal of sending a final spending plan to Gov. Bev Perdue by June 1.

The General Assembly must close a deficit that is estimated at between $1.9 billion and $2.5 billion.

Some notable cuts and changes include:

• Eliminating at least 130 jobs at the Department of Public Instruction.

• Closing the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching, a residential academy in Western North Carolina that’s come under fire during tough fiscal times. Shuttering NCCAT would save more than $4.7 million each year of the two-year fiscal cycle. Perdue proposed shrinking the center’s budget by $238,144.

• Ending Smart Start, the early childhood development program championed by former Gov. Jim Hunt, saving $136 million. Perdue proposed cutting the program by about $9.5 million. Critics of the program call it inefficient and too costly. Advocates for Smart Start flooded the halls of the General Assembly for several days last month, lobbying to ensure its safety.

• Modifying More at Four, another pre-kindergarten program, by moving it to the Department of Health and Human Services.

• Ending the subsidy to UNC Hospitals.

• Closing the Coastal Wave Energy Research center.

• Eliminating funding for the UNC Center for Public Television.

• Shifting $85 million in transportation funding slated for secondary road construction, repaving and other general maintenance work to repairs on bridges and other safety-related concerns.

• Increasing the tolls on the state’s ferries and add tolls to those that are free to passengers, with a goal of collecting $2.5 million next fiscal year and $5 million the following.

• Adding $10 million to the One North Carolina fund next fiscal year, reversing an earlier measure that would have diverted some of that economic development fund’s money to the state’s General Fund. Perdue, who uses economic incentives to attract businesses to North Carolina, vetoed that bill.

Anthony Greco is an associate editor of Carolina Journal.