Parent Teacher Magazine Union County Public Schools May/June 2015 | Page 10
State legislators talk with local school officials about funding
Union County Public Schools hosted several state legislators
recently to talk about various bills, the state budget and UCPS initiatives.
Five teachers and two administrators were invited for the informal
round-table discussion: Principal Donna Cook, Assistant Principal
Lisa Justice, Spanish teacher Alejandra Elliot, Social Studies teacher
Matthew Gain, CTE Teacher Troy Burns, Math teacher Sandra Tran,
and International Baccalaureate teacher Ann Yochem held at Marvin
Ridge High School.
Horn, who is chairman of the several education committees
including the Education Appropriations, the K-12 Education
committees and the House Study Committee on Education
Innovation, spoke on legislative issues and money affecting education
in the state.
“We are the highest performing high school in North Carolina, yet
I had 37 teachers leave for South Carolina or the private industry
where they can make more money,” Cook said.
“I’ve been in this career for 30 years,” said math teacher
Sandra Tran. “I think it’s a slap in the face to give pay raises only to
beginning teachers. In what other profession can you walk in the door
and make more money than experienced employees? It’s the veteran
teachers who are leaving.”
“We take this very seriously,” Horn said. “What we did last year is
one piece of the puzzle. We are committed to keeping the ball rolling.”
A second gathering occurred during a legislative breakfast led by
UCPS Board of Education’s Legislative Committee at the Professional
Development Center.
Legislators were given a list of the nine items on the UCPS
Legislative Agenda: driver’s education, the school calendar, A-F
grading of schools, Average Daily Membership (ADM) funding, teacher
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pay, principal/assistant principal compensation, teacher assistant
funding, reduction of testing, and the North Carolina Pre-K program.
A lengthy discussion evolved about the state’s tentative plans to
discontinue funding for driver’s education, which is currently funded
by the state through the Highway Fund. If the state removes funding
for this, local school systems would be responsible.
Money will run out for driver’s education, a state-mandated
program, on June 30, unless lawmakers act to restore funding.
If legislators do not restore funding, school districts will have
to pay the costs to offer the course, or require parents to pay an
estimated $300 to $400 per student.
“No matter what
we want, we still have
to base it on the amount
of money we take in,
and we seriously have to
consider that if we want
more money, are we going
to turn around and raise
taxes?” said Rep. Brody.
“You’ve elected us to
manage the state, not to
make ourselves look good.”
--This article was written
by Deb Coates Bledsoe,
and provided courtesy
of the Communications
Office of the Union
County Public Schools.
NC Speaker of the House Tim Moore and
UCPS Board of Education Vice Chairman
Leslie Boyd (At-large), tour a class at
Marvin Ridge High School.