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Delays with the state budget are causing school districts all over North Carolina to have difficulty planning for the new school year.
Wake County had already announced one round of hiring freezes affecting high schools; now, that hiring freeze is being extended to middle schools as well.
Teacher aides are in limbo, too, meaning there could be a big impact at the elementary school level.
"It is a very difficult time, and I've had some very difficult conversations over the past two days," Principal James Overman at East Garner Year Round Elementary said.
Overman said 10 employees at his school won't be back.
The school district is avoiding layoffs by not renewing some contracts. That could include some of the 1,500 teachers with contracts expiring this year, along with other employees who had signed month-to-month contracts.
"On any given day, the state funding situation changes," Wake County School's Chief Communications Officer Michael Evans said. "So we're trying to put ourselves in a position where we can react responsibly."
The impact will mean class sizes are likely to increase at high schools and middle schools, and the number of course offerings will drop, Overman says.
He says elementary schools are looking at a 25 percent drop in teacher aides.
"You don't realize how much they impact school until that person is not there," Overman said. "[That's] the person that's here in the morning to help with carpool duty, [or] the person that helps with lunch duty."
For planning purposes, it's just the school district's best guess right now, but everything goes back to the general assembly's decision.
"We're just very hopeful that they will pass a budget soon so that we can move forward," Overman said.
The school district is also banning any out-of-state travel and asking that any county funding be used only for "essential" goods and services.
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By bishop lovelace on 06/30 01:22 PM
this is to the observer, that made fun of mine spelling i,m not here to worry about how i spell i was making a statement of how the school system for yrs now have never considered how they are putting parents and children out of thier way. now after yrs of crying and taking this to the courts and finally winning now they dont have a clue how to get them to the schools. so observer put that in your pipe and smoke it oh by the way when i had your mama in the bedroom she was,nt worried about my spelling
By Observer on 06/30 12:00 PM
"here we go, it was just a matter of time the school system morned and grorned for the past yrs about how they want things done there way busing kids miles down the road to schools that puts them and thier parents out of the way now they dont have a clue what thier doing and the funny thing is that this is just the begining you can see how the school system every year is getting more lost then ever. they look like a bunch of lost souls." How many grammatical errors and spelling mistakes can be in one paragraph? And this is from someone critiquing the educational system?
By Chuck on 06/30 02:32 AM
Just one Question: Who has control of the very large amount of money that is being put into the Lottery. Why is not being used for our Schools? Just my Option.
By bishop lovelace on 06/30 02:15 AM
here we go, it was just a matter of time the school system morned and grorned for the past yrs about how they want things done there way busing kids miles down the road to schools that puts them and thier parents out of the way now they dont have a clue what thier doing and the funny thing is that this is just the begining you can see how the school system every year is getting more lost then ever. they look like a bunch of lost souls.
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