The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools Board of Education tabled a vote on the local budget request Tuesday night as members consider how much to ask county commissioners for.
Teachers and staff rallied outside the WS/FCS education building ahead of the board’s meeting. They held signs urging members to “just ask for what students need,” and fully staff Exceptional Children, or EC, classrooms.
The Forsyth County Association of Educators is petitioning for the addition of 242 EC positions, among other things, to make up for cuts amid the financial crisis last year. The association president, Jenny Easter, said funding EC teacher assistants is especially critical.
“Because we don't have enough EC TAs, our instructional teacher assistants are being pulled to cover EC TA positions and duties," Easter said. "We can't keep borrowing people to do jobs they're not trained for, especially in this needed position.”
During the public comment portion of the board meeting, EC Teacher Stephanie Trillo also voiced concerns about properly serving students under the current conditions.
“You really need to be looking at how this is going, because what's even more expensive is $50,000 to $100,000 for a lawsuit," Trillo said.
The problem is that the district is expecting $15 million in reductions in state and federal funding. And Superintendent Don Phipps said his conversations with the county haven’t been promising either.
Revenues have fallen short of expectations, and county officials warned that the district won’t see much of an increase.
Still, Phipps says he thinks it’s important to show the county what the needs are. He prepared a draft of an itemized list amounting to an extra $30 million.
“These aren't pie-in-the-sky things that, if we had our way, this would be great. These are critical positions that are being cut with the allocations and the allotment numbers that we have," Phipps said.
But even that list falls short of what educators have called for.
Board members ultimately tabled the vote on the budget request until April 21 to continue the discussion.