A letter dated June 1 was mailed to approximately 80 Buncombe County teachers informing them that their contracts might not be renewed next year.
The move by Buncombe County School officials is in response to the education budget proposal currently in the General Assembly that would increase class sizes statewide by two students per class.
That means the elimination of 6,005 teacher positions statewide, approximately 110 of them in Buncombe County.
“We do have people retiring and others leaving for other reasons,” says Buncombe County Schools Communication Director Jan Blunt. “Take them out of the mix, that leaves approximately 80 teachers.”
The budget won’t actually be passed until July, but the school system is required by law to notify teachers by June 15 that their positions may be cut. And, Blunt says, the budget would impact all kinds of school personnel, including bus drivers, secretaries and teachers assistants.
“We just had to let these people know now,” she said. “But this is just the tip of a very large iceberg.”
The notices went out to untenured teachers. The Board of Education is expected to make a similar announcement at its June 4 meeting.
— Brian Postelle, staff writer
This is uncalled for! It’s an outrage! These Democrat legislators have pork spent and earmarked enough money to triple teacher salaries and build hundreds of schools.
This is the problem with the Democrat socialist agenda. They spend, spend, spend without saving for the future.
Democrat politicians have lied again. They campaigned on “Better Education”, “More Money For Our Already Over Worked Teachers.” Yeah right.
Wake up Buncombe and NC!
Our teachers and children deserve better.
blahblahblah.
Everyone loses right now. Teachers included.
[b]This is the problem with the Democrat socialist agenda. They spend, spend, spend without saving for the future. [/b]
And it isnt the Republican Agenda? What country have you been paying attention to for the past decade? The national debt rose by $4 Trillion under The Republicans last watch.
Thank Perdue, if she left the lottery money for Hmm Education it might be a little different. Such a proud moment for this horrible Govenor.
Its the Repubs that got us here, now others have to find a way to dig us out.
I don’t believe cutting the teachers is the way to go though. Maybe take a little of the money for roads, increase energy efficiency on the govt. buildings, and use the savings for teachers. ANYTHING but shortchanging our future…. Hell, probably a fifth of the money to be spent on the I26 connector will fund the schools totally. Reduce the number of cars and that interchange will be unneeded.
The truly sad part is that it is our state’s children who will inevitably pay the highest price. With larger class sizes, fewer valuable one-on-one instruction time, and poorly funded programs, the future of our youth’s education looks very grim indeed. I’d be surprise if NC will attract any decent teachers after this.
On the bright side, NC’s roads are in the top of the nation’s public highway systems…..
Shame on you NC—-where are your priorities these days?
How did the Republicans cause this? Education is a State function and funded largely by property taxes. The Democrats have been in charge of Raleigh for 40 over years. This is mostly their fault for ignoring the importance of one of their most important functions.
When she comes to your area in about 3 years trolling for votes, just remember Ms. Purdue is the one who ran on an education platform and the first thing she did was cut education funding and teachers’ salaries. Another poster is right: it’s our children and grandchildren who are going to suffer the most from her actions. Of course, she and her entourage are headed to Europe soon. Wonder where she’s getting the money to finance that trip? Food for thought, isn’t it?
<>Education is a State function and funded largely by property taxes. The Democrats have been in charge of Raleigh for 40 over years. This is mostly their fault for ignoring the importance of one of their most important functions.<>
John is right! And for those that are blaming Bush, look again. Congress and the Senate have been run by the Democrats for the past 5 years. The Congress and the Senate are the ones that make the laws, fees, permits, etc..
And like Mysterylogger said “Thank Perdue, if she left the lottery money for Hmm Education it might be a little different.”.
BREAKING NEWS * BREAKING NEWS
A rep. from Governor Purdue’s office will be at Enka High School to hear from the public about the future of our children and the teachers, staff, etc.. Senator Martin Nesbitt and State Rep Susan Fisher have been asked to be there. If you would like to go and stress your opinion here you go –
ENKA HIGH SCHOOL
SCHOOL AUDITORIUM
JUNE 8TH
6:00PM
Please be there for this very important meeting.
Who really cares who “caused” it. That’s irrelevant now- the problem is looming in front of us right now. The problem is here, and it’s wrong. Teachers already don’t make great money in this state. Classes are already too big to give the students solid and good attention. Now, some of those who educate our kids are losing their jobs. Absolutely ridiculous. Why would anyone smart and talented want to be a teacher now? Bottom line: we end up with a lame, weak education system that produces poorly educated children.
And it isnt the Republican Agenda? What country have you been paying attention to for the past decade? The national debt rose by $4 Trillion under The Republicans last watch.
While this is true Piffy, it’ been the Democratically controlled state legislature and the Easley admin that has been pissing away state money for years.
I’m not saying Republicans would have done better as they are cheering on the education and mental health funding cuts, but the blame lies with those currently in power.
NC has one of the most irresponsible and corrupt state governments in the US and, if this budget is passed as is, should be held accountable by the voters. If Purdue doesn’t stand against this she’ll be a one term governor, IMO.
I’d like to know more about where the Education Lottery dollars go.
Leigh, here’s a story from Feb 28 about diverting the funds:
http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/lottery/story/1422536.html
cwaster said <>Who really cares who “caused” it.<>
I care cwaster. I care very much. Conservatives would have never done this. Granted there are a few RINO’s in the Republican Party, but true conservatives would have never spent money on earmarks or pork barrels. Conservatives believe in the strongest education in the world for our children. Conservatives know, understand, and respect the fact that the “teacher” is the number one person we should look out for. They are the light at the end of the tunnel for children to dream big and be all they can be. Teachers should be looked upon as American heros.
Our 1st solution is to research candidates who are running for office. Stop voting because they
speak well or look cool and vote on the persons character and voting record.
Our 2nd solution is to hammer hard what these liberals have been doing with our money and force them to stop spending on ridiculous things.
I believe we can still save the teachers jobs. We just have to instill the fear of the voter in these polititians.
The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Liberals squeak a lot. All you have to do is squeak louder. There are more common sense people out here than loud mouth liberals.
So let’s go get the grease and save our teachers!!!!!
Who really cares who “caused” it. That’s irrelevant now
That’s true at present. Right now it’s imperative that we stop the massive cuts in education and mental health funding…
But if this deal goes through and they gut two of the most important programs in the state, who caused it will matter very, very much.
Chad:
So you’re telling me that if the Republican were in power at the state level that education and mental health programs would be well funded and well organized?
Since when did Republicans become the champions of public education and medicaid financed public health programs?
“…you’re telling me that if the Republican were in power at the state level that education and mental health programs would be well funded and well organized?
Since when did Republicans become the champions of public education and medicaid financed public health programs?”
I think to blame a political party is useless at this stage of the game. We have to get in touch with our legislative delegations and get them fired up to do something to prevent this “raiding” of the education lottery and the continual slashing of funding for mental health programs.
I agree with Silver Fox. All of this back and forth about who is to blame is a waste of time. Spend even HALF of that energy writing, organizing, and rallying against these cuts, and we might have a solution here.
At the very least we could send a very LOUD message to our powers that be!!
Silver Fox, at this stage I agree, as I already stated.
You’re quite right about contacting legislative delegations, here’s the contact info:
Speaker Hackney 919-733-3451
Majority Leader Holliman 919-715-0873
Minority Leader Stam 919-733-2962
More info at the The Arc of NC website:
http://72.167.22.100/action_alert/index.shtml
Time for vouchers and letting the parents make education decisions.
Oh thank God you just fixed it all.
Lottery Fund … it gets raided just like the Highway fund which was just used to fund the State Employee Health Insurance Program. I guess since they have to drive to the doctor, its ok.
The Lottery is the most regressive tax ever invented. It cripples the poor. Look at the counties that play the most … they are the poorest in the State. The Democrats say they are looking out for the poor, but the lottery does the opposite.
Interesting… most of the Republicans I know look at public education as yet another unnecessary expense and something the government shouldn’t have a stake in. They’d like to see education privatized on all levels. So would a Republican, or ‘conservative’, administration truly have preserved spending for education, or is that too ‘moderate’ an approach for Republicans to take? hmm…
bcw … I’m not too sure about the US ever going to all private education regardless of who is in charge … but your premise is flawed. If we had all private education, there would be no need to preserve any government money for education spending.
b.c.w. – Please, name the Republicans you know.
Silver Fox said <>I think to blame a political party is useless at this stage of the game. We have to get in touch with our legislative delegations and get them fired up to do something to prevent this “raiding” of the education lottery and the continual slashing of funding for mental health programs.<>
Oh yes we do need to blame the political party in charge, so people will wake up to the liberal propaganda.
I mentioned a “public meeting” in my earlier post where you can speak directly to some of these politicians. I also gave 2 solutions to this problem.
If the lottery money had just been used for education ONLY the teachers would not be in this position. And if the legislature hadn’t wasted so much of our money on pork, like the “Teapot Museum”, then there would be enough money for emergencies.
The blame? Easy. The democrat politicians that run ur state have over-spent and mis-spent our tax money. And a majority of North Carolinians stupidly re-elected these crooks even though the former democrat Speaker of the House is in prison for graft. I do hope the people of North Carolina wise up and vote in a new crop of hopefully less crooked politicians next election cycle.
I am sad to see the cuts made but at least the children still have an education. Adding two more seats to each classroom does not seem like overload to me. They will probably recover these jobs within the year or so.
There needs to be an investigation on where the Lottery money is. We keep hearing it is awash in cash. Where is it?
Adding two more seats to each classroom does not seem like overload to me.
Sure, until you add two more, then two more and so on.
Believe it or not, class sizes of 25 kids makes teaching exponentially more difficult, especially with younger children.
Chad, As much trouble as you get into, who would listen to a thing you had to say!
i say put the kids back in the factories. that’ll free up some room.