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Those hoping that the General Assembly will put more money into its Pre-Kindergarten education program when it returns to session the week after Thanksgiving are likely going to be disappointed. As my friends at the Associated Press reported this morning:

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A top North Carolina legislative budget-writer says there are no immediate plans to address preschool spending for at-risk 4-year-olds because litigation on the state's program is running through the courts.

Republican Sen. Richard Stevens of Cary made the comments Wednesday after an advocacy group held a news conference urging lawmakers to fulfill Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue's request to spend $30 million to teach another 6,300 preschoolers starting in January.

Judge Howard Manning ruled this summer against parts of North Carolina’s budget law having to do with Pre-K, saying that academic pre-school was part of a student’s constitutional right to a sound basic education. The ruling particularly took aim at provisions that could have forced some students to pay for the program.

The state is appeal the ruling, despite the fact that Gov. Bev Perdue and other Democrats seem to think more funding for Pre-K is a good idea. In the mean time, there has been a great deal of back and forth over how to respond to Manning’s order.

Groups like The Covenant with North Carolina’s Children (link) coalition have been urging lawmakers to take up Perdue’s request when they come back into session.

When I spoke to Perdue earlier this week, she said she had not gotten any indication from lawmakers that they would take up the measure.

And like Stevens, House Speaker Thom Tillis said last night that the House had no plans to take up the funding.

“We don’t anticipate that on the 28th,” Tillis said.