![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.raleighpublicrecord.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/perstudentspending.jpg\" "\\"perstudentspending\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nIn a vote along partisan lines, the Wake County Board of Education Tuesday narrowly approved Superintendent Tony Tata\u2019s proposed $1.2 billion budget.<\/p>\n
What appeared to be something of a rubber stamp took an unexpected turn when Democrat-backed board member Anne McLaurin (District 5) offered an amendment to ask the county Board of Commissioners for more funding.<\/p>\n
The proposed budget includes a $313.5 million lump sum appropriation request to the county, which means the board could allocate the money as it chooses.<\/p>\n
Although the county\u2019s total appropriation for the school system did not decline for the 2011-12 school year, growth in the number of students would result in an overall decline in per-pupil spending.<\/p>\n
McLaurin\u2019s amendment would have asked the county to maintain per-pupil funding at its current level.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think as the board of education we have a responsibility to request sufficient funds to educate children,\u201d said McLaurin.<\/p>\n
Conservative board member Debra Goldman (District 9), who has voted against the majority on partisan issues in the past, \u2014 including the majority\u2019s move to create a neighborhood school system \u2014 wavered on her vote.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wish they could skip me,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m torn.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the end, Goldman was persuaded on logistical grounds. Chief Financial Officer David Neter pointed out the board\u2019s May 15 deadline for presenting a budget to the County Commission. The board had little time to present the new appropriation request for feedback, determine where in the budget to spend the new money and have a new budget printed by the deadline, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs much as I\u2019d like to ask for more money, I feel like we\u2019ve asked the county commission several times at this point,\u201d Goldman said. \u201cI don\u2019t see how we can do it in time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Board member Deborah Prickett (District 7) observed that many other county services have received cuts.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do recall the meeting with the county commissioners, and I was just very impressed with the way the county was able to keep our funding stable in the times that we\u2019re going through,\u201d she said. \u201cHealth and Human Services took a lot of cuts.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEven though we have all thought about the budget, this [amendment] seems last-minute, like you\u2019re throwing this in out of desperation,\u201d Prickett added. \u201cThis seems to be a very good budget for the times we\u2019re working in.\u201d<\/p>\n
In her final remarks to the board majority before the vote, McLaurin referred to Superintendent Tata\u2019s meeting with state legislators earlier that day to request that they vote for no more than a 5 percent cut in public education funding. The current budget proposal in the North Carolina House of Representatives features an 8.8 percent cut.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are perfectly willing to ask the state for more money after they have told us no, but we\u2019re not willing to ask the county for more money,\u201d said McLaurin. \u201cIs that what you\u2019re saying?\u201d<\/p>\n
The final vote was 4-3 along party lines. Board member Kevin Hill was not present.<\/p>\n
The Wake County Public School System trails Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Cumberland, Guillford and Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools in per-pupil funding.<\/p>\n
As of June 30, 2010, WCPSS spent $9,338 per student in operating and support costs.<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n
<\/strong><\/p>\n Bonus for teachers<\/strong><\/p>\n Every teacher in Wake County public schools will receive a onetime $500 bonus next year.<\/p>\n The measure was included in the superintendent\u2019s budget proposal but voted on separately on Tuesday.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we\u2019re all in agreement that it\u2019s a miniscule amount of money, but it\u2019s certainly value added during difficult budget times,\u201d said Board Chair Ron Margiotta.<\/p>\n In remarks at the beginning of the meeting to mark Teacher Appreciation Week, Margiotta praised the district\u2019s teachers.<\/p>\n \u201cWe commend teachers for their laser-like focus on student achievement,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The coming school year will be the third consecutive year in which Wake County teachers have received no salary increase.<\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n Some year-round schools to go single-track<\/strong><\/p>\n In a move designed to save money and increase efficiency, the board also approved on Tuesday a motion to shift five under-enrolled year-round elementary schools from four tracks to one track.<\/p>\n Alston Ridge, Highcroft, Lake Myra, Rand Road and Timber Drive will now move all students to Track 4.<\/p>\n District staff estimated that total savings from the change would amount to more than $400,000.<\/p>\n Students whose parents have already planned vacations during instructional days under the new schedule will not receive unexcused absences.<\/p>\n Teachers now on Tracks 1, 2 and 3 at the affected schools will receive pay during the month of July. Track 4 schools are off that month.<\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n Board Advisory Councils<\/strong><\/p>\n The board also voted to limit membership on board advisory councils to residents of or parents of children attending school in the Board Advisory Council\u2019s district.<\/p>\n Each of the school system\u2019s nine districts has its own BAC.<\/p>\n According to the WCPSS website, BACs are designed to \u201censure a broad range of ideas and voices are heard within our school system and actively help craft recommendations, procedures, strategies and tactics that are adopted by system staff and the Board.\u201d<\/p>\n The board must approve all candidates for BAC membership and can remove BAC members at any time.<\/p>\n Several speakers during the public comment period objected to the move.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t understand why you\u2019re making it more difficult for parents to take part in the board advisor councils,\u201d said Greg Flynn.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are a countywide system and we need to start thinking as a countywide system,\u201d said Christine Kushner.<\/p>\n The board also struck a provision in the BAC policy that required board members to consult the Parent Teacher Association when determining BAC candidates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Wake County School Board approved its $1.2 billion budget Tuesday. They also voted to give teachers a $500 bonus and moved some year-round schools with low enrollment to just one track.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24030,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[303,15,55],"tags":[77,64,123],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6918"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24030"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6918\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}