6 low-key N.C. budget provisions worth your attention

Teacher raises and tax cuts get the headlines, but the fine print includes items about food stamp errors, vape shops, prediction markets and AI in schools.

North Carolina’s political nerds (myself included) have spent the mid-morning poring through the state budget proposal just released, and it looks to be a good one.

There are some hefty raises for teachers and law enforcement officers, and above-average raises for other state employees. Personal income taxes are going to continue to go down, with a reset slate of revenue triggers. We’re also going to put a sizable amount of money into reserves, too.

You can get a pretty good overview of the top-line numbers in this press release from Senate president pro tem Phil Berger and House Speaker Destin Hall. You can get a shorter version here from The Assembly and here from WUNC.

Or you can go ahead and read the full 600+-page bill.

Leadership says they’ll vote on the bill by the end of the week, and I do not expect Gov. Josh Stein to veto it. Could we escape 2026 without a single veto? It’s looking likely.

To close the loop on stuff I’ve written about earlier:

• The provision to make Charlotte r…