Gov. Bev Perdue continues to fight for education despite the devastating cuts included in the Republican-backed budget.
“We must have a highly trained workforce for our state to be globally competitive, and that education begins in preschool classrooms and continues all the way through our community colleges and universities,” Gov. Perdue said. “They may have cut our pre-k programs and turned our education system backwards. But tomorrow, the citizens of North Carolina and I will resume the fight for what we believe in -- that education must be the one priority we never turn our backs on.”
When she vetoed the budget bill, Gov. Perdue said the budget would force local school systems to lay off educators. Since the General Assembly’s override of the budget veto, news headlines have confirmed this fear.
“To think that those cuts will not negatively impact our students, that’s not true,” Gaston County Schools Superintendent Reeves McGlohon told the Gaston Gazette. “The cuts will hurt. There will be individuals in our school system who have jobs this year that will not have jobs next year.”
Other systems have begun delivering pink slips.
Cumberland County: 179 teacher assistant jobs, 130 teachers, nine assistant principals
New Hanover County: 191 jobs
Harnett County: 88 jobs (mostly teacher assistants)
Union County: 100 jobs
Robeson County: 235 jobs
Statewide: Eliminating funding for Governor's school shuts out 600 students
Winston-Salem/Forsyth County: Considering a plan to eliminate 221 jobs, including 118 teaching positions
Wake County: Teacher Assistants pay is slashed
Columbus County: Layoffs have started
Johnston County: 123 positions, including 73 teacher assistants
Beaufort County: 110 jobs lost
Lee County: 50 teacher jobs, dozens of teacher assistants
Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools County: 460 jobs lost
Statewide: Gap between rich and poor schools growing
The General Assembly's budget is the "riskiest gamble ever perpetrated on the citizens of North Carolina," said Montgomery County Schools Superintendent Dr. Dale Ellis. "What's getting ready to happen should be a crime."
"5 Reasonable People": A Superintendent’s Response to the State Budget Crisis from Lindsay Whitley on Vimeo.