Groups Try to Mobilize Supporters for Budget
Posted on: Thursday, 15 May 2008, 06:00 CDT
By Lisa Boone-Wood, Winston-Salem Journal, N.C.
May 15--Two local associations for parents and teachers are urging their members to support the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County school board's budget request.
The Forsyth County Association of Educators and the Forsyth County Parent Teacher Association Council are organizing support for the school board's budget request by e-mail.
Tripp Jeffers, the president of the association of educators, sent out a call-to-action e-mail yesterday that asked all school staff members to show their support for the budget and to e-mail Forsyth County commissioners before the budget hearing May 27.
"It is IMPERATIVE that we begin organizing and planning to influence those who can change our salaries NOW and working environment," Jeffers said in the e-mail.
Donald Dunn, the president of the PTA council, is also soliciting support from each of the 73 PTAs in the school system.
Dunn said that the council has asked parents to start writing commissioners and plans to have a group of parents attend the budget hearing.
Superintendent Don Martin presented a budget for 2008-09 earlier last month that asks the commissioners for $121.8 million, $13.8 million more than the current budget.
School-board members added about $6.4 million to Martin's recommended budget, including about $3.9 million for capital projects.
The board members want a 5 percent increase in teacher salaries and a four-year plan to double the amount of supplementary pay for teachers at Equity Plus schools, which have higher numbers of poor students.
Martin said that the two major things that the board is concerned about are having textbooks for each student and the supplementary-pay plan for teachers at Equity Plus schools.
"We feel like we need to step up and do more, as to articulate the needs of what we can get by with," he said. "Part of our increase is simply due to we have more kids to deal with."
Martin said that the school system is buying some textbooks but needs about $700,000 for more.
Jeffers, who along with the educators association pushed to have items added to the budget, said yesterday that the budget needed the additions because of conservative budget requests in the past.
At the school-board meeting Tuesday night, board members started making plans to reschedule their next meeting so they can attend the county commissioners' budget hearing.
"I understand how painful it is for them to hear this, because it is painful for us to ask for it," Jeannie Metcalf, a board member, said at the meeting. "We have worked with them year after year."
Metcalf said she hopes that the commissioners understand that the school system needs the requested money for students and teachers.
"We are conservative people," she said. "We take care of every dollar that you send. We're all in this together, so let's try to work together."
Jeffers said that the fact that the school board is willing to reschedule or postpone its meeting is a phenomenal statement.
"I'm just so proud of this school board for taking the initiative to stand up for what this school district needs," he said.
County Commissioner Gloria Whisenhunt said she doesn't know how the board will vote on the school's budget. But she said that the school system should reevaluate its requests.
"I think everybody's budget should reflect what the citizens are feeling," Whisenhunt said. "The citizens support our schools, but now the same citizens who voted for the bond referendum are suffering.
"I just think government should reflect what our citizens are going through. I think we're all going to have to tighten our belts," she said.
Lisa Boone-Wood can be reached at 727-7232 or at lboone@wsjournal.com.
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Source: Winston-Salem Journal
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