FORSYTH COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP) — Teachers want help, and they want the state legislature to step up.
Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools is set to lose almost 270 people on Friday after a reduction in force was approved last month to save $18 million this fiscal year and balance the budget.
This comes as the district is still battling the more than $40 million budget deficit from the previous fiscal year.
On Monday night at Carver High School, two state representatives were able to address the Forsyth County Association of Educators.
Representatives Kanika Brown and Amber Baker attended the forum. Representative Donny Lambeth declined the invitation, and Representative Jeff Zenger did not reply to the invite. The others had scheduling conflicts.
For the FCAE, time is of the essence.
With just days until those affected by the reduction in force will work their last shift with WS/FCS, FCAE asked for a miracle.
“Please pass a bill to relieve WS/FCS debt and allocate the necessary funds to keep critical staff like myself,” said one teacher affected by the reduction in force from Parkland High School
The FCAE sent a letter to the entire state delegation asking them to reconvene the general assembly and grant the district a cash infusion of about $18 million in an effort to save the jobs of those affected by the reduction in force. It can’t happen in time.
“I hate that we can’t make means for us to come in before Sept. 12,” Brown said.
Brown, a Democrat, told the town hall at Carver High School she wished she had the power to save those jobs.
“I can’t even imagine what mental health is like for our teachers who lost their jobs, our assistant principals who lost their jobs,” Brown said.
Representative Amber Baker, also a Democrat, pointed out that assistant principals have a much larger job than the paragraph description on a job listing may say.
“Our APs are now co-instructional leaders in our buildings,” Baker said.
The exceptional children’s department is losing 15 percent of its staff, and EC students are hurting.
“I care for a student who is in a wheelchair, and she has cerebral palsy. When she found out I would no longer be her aid, I had to listen to her cry all day long,” an EC aid said. “It broke my heart.”
Brown and Baker were asked if the state can step in.
“If I’m honest, it is not looking good for us as a district, so we’ve got to continue to keep the pressure on us, and here’s the thing: in order to revisit the funding formulas, it will not happen before 2027,” Baker said.
In the meantime, those facing their last day at the district are forced to look outside of WS/FCS for jobs.
“I am just lost … This is the best job I ever had,” the EC aide said.
Both legislators encouraged people to send emails to legislators, lobbying for the school system.
The WS/FCS Board of Education has plans to meet with the local delegation on Sept. 22.
They do intend to directly ask for help again.
Source: Fox 8 News Channel
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