(RALEIGH) -- State officials testified that recent budget cuts would undo progress brought on by a landmark court case protecting access to quality education.

Attorneys for five low-wealth counties argued that the $19.7 billion spending plan passed by state lawmakers undermines a series of court rulings that began with the 1997 Leandro case. The N.C. Supreme Court determined that all children are guaranteed the constitutional right to have a sound, basic education.

“My focus has been since 2004 and it remains today, to try to give this stuff force or push the people to go better because these people are not getting a sound, basic education,” said Wake County Superior Court Judge Howard Manning. “And there can be no dispute about it.”

Manning emphasized that budget cuts wouldn’t excuse poor teacher performance and administrative oversight.  He cited preliminary results from recent assessment scores of third and eighth grade, which suggest that 200,000 of the nearly 678,000 students tested can’t read at grade level. “If a child cannot read, if they are not literate - whether they can do math on a computer or not - they're not going to make it," Manning said.

A large portion of the testimony focused on the 20 percent cut to the early childhood program, More at Four. Education officials criticized provisions in the state budget that limit the number of at-risk students to 20 percent of total enrollment. More at Four has traditionally only targeted at-risk students.

John Pruette, executive director of the state's Office of Early Learning, said a new co-pay requirement could prevent local schools from using other funding sources to make up the additional costs of running the program. The state will begin charging most families co-pays of up to 10 percent of their gross income.  “It really sort of unravels this fabric of funding support that we’ve created over a decade to support children in a very significant way – all of those programs meeting one common state standard.”

In addition, Pruette challenged claims by Republican budget writers that the proposed changes won’t result in children losing their spots in the More at Four program. “The math just doesn't work, quite frankly,” he testified. “You’re not going to have the money to support it."

House Speaker Thom Tillis, R-Mecklenburg, defended the budget changes. He said emphasis was placed on fully funding teachers, improving accountability and making sure all students could read by third grade. “Generally, we wanted to see evidence that we’re getting more education, more emphasis on the early childhood development without any regard to socio-economic status or otherwise,” he added.

Tillis also questioned Manning’s motives for holding the hearing.

“Anytime any judge suddenly becomes the 121st legislator in House, I’d have a concern with that because that’s a very clear breach of the separation of powers,” said Tillis. “I don’t necessarily expect that’s happened here. But if there are policy decisions being questioned versus the legality of the laws that have been passed, then it’s very clearly an area where I think the scope needs to be focused back on the core mission of that branch of government.”