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RALEIGH — Call it the one-cent solution.

Faced with the prospect of a state budget that would cut thousands of teaching jobs across the state — the exact number is a matter of some debate — public schools boosters are calling for lawmakers to keep a one-cent temporary sales tax that is set to expire July 1.

The extension would put roughly $1 billion into the state treasury next year — without which school officials say they’ll be forced to lay off teachers and teaching assistants.

“This is a self-inflicted wound and has more to do with political promises than with common good,” said Bill McNeil, executive director of the N.C. Association of School Administrators.

McNeil and his organization are part of an alliance of 40 school and business groups called the Quality Schools Coalition. Included are the Guilford Education Alliance and the Piedmont Triad Education Consortium.

They argue extending the temporary one-penny tax would cost the average taxpayer less than 25 cents per day, or about $90 per year.

But Republicans who control the state House and Senate this year ran on promises not to raise taxes. Keeping a temporary tax would be tantamount to a tax increase, they say.

“We believe if we can leave more money in the pockets of individual citizens and small businesses, that in and of itself will have a positive effect on job numbers,” Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger, an Eden Republican, said last week.

Not only are Republicans looking to let the one-cent temporary sales tax expire, they also plan roughly $230 million worth of additional tax cuts next year.

When the House finished its work on the $19.3 billion budget last week, lawmakers proposed reducing state spending on public schools by 9 percent and spending on the state universities by 15 percent.

Although those percentages may be tweaked by the Senate as it takes up the budget this week, Berger’s chamber is unlikely to make public education boosters feel any better. He said last week the House budget ticked over spending limits agreed to by House and Senate budget negotiators early on in the process.

“The Senate budget will come closer to the original targets,” he said.

Sen. Jerry Tillman, an Archdale Republican and a chairman of two education committees, said cuts will definitely affect schools and may not be obvious before local school officials put their final budgets in place.

“It will squeeze them; it will put some pressure on them,” Tillman said.

For example, while the House budget pays for all state-funded teaching positions, it requires schools to hand back millions of dollars in unspecified cuts to the state.

“To make those cuts and not affect the classroom is going to be very, very hard,” Tillman said.

But even with schools facing hard decisions, he said, Republicans are right to focus on letting the temporary tax expire.

“Yes, there’s going to be unmet needs. Yes, it would be nice to have that $800 million or $1 billion. But it would also be nice to keep our word ... We believe that billion-plus-dollars we’re going to let the taxpayers keep is going to spur the economy,” he said.

That leaves groups such as the Quality School Coalition girding for an all-out lobbying campaign on behalf of schools, pledging to bring teachers, parents and others to Raleigh every week to try to change lawmakers’ minds.

They point to polls, including a recent Elon University Poll, that show support for keeping the sales tax ranging from 70 to 80 percent of those surveyed.

Gov. Bev Perdue, a Democrat, called for keeping most of the temporary tax in her budget and has argued throughout the spring that lawmakers would cut too deeply without more revenue. Last week, Perdue penned an editorial slamming the House budget for its “staggering cuts” to classrooms.

If the education fight comes to a veto, Perdue can afford to lose only three House Democrats or Republicans can override her rejection. Those numbers were front of mind last week when five House Democrats voted for the Republican budget.

However, at least three of those Democrats have said they would back Perdue’s veto if she rejected budget with the current level of education cuts.

When asked if that necessarily meant keeping the temporary sales tax or raising another tax, Rep. Bill Owens, an Elizabeth City Democrat, said “No.

“No. There are some other options,” Owens said.

He did not specify what those options might be. But he said it would be a good idea for Republicans to keep talking with Perdue and avoid a showdown.

Contact Mark Binker at (919) 832-5549 or mark.binker@news-record.com