“Today, North Carolina ranks 48th in the country in per-pupil funding ($4,655 below the national average and dead last when it comes to school funding effort).”
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“Today, North Carolina ranks 48th in the country in per-pupil funding ($4,655 below the national average and dead last when it comes to school funding effort).”
The Buncombe County Board of Education is not happy with the direction state legislators are taking in funding schools.
From child care centers to colleges, Glenda Weinert’s education experience has influenced students young and old. But it’s her business expertise and political leadership as former chair of the Buncombe County Republican Party that make her a unique addition to the Buncombe County Board of Education.
Former Buncombe County GOP Chair Glenda Weinert, who is a current member of the Buncombe County Schools Foundation, received the most votes on June 6 in the opening round of an open-ended series of votes among the six sitting members of the board.
In a statement to the board at a special called work session May 15, an emotional Simpkins said she was stepping down for “personal reasons” and because of “some changes going on.”
The Buncombe County Board of Education passed an increased funding request of $13.5 million from the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners at its May 2 meeting based on a “vast number of assumptions and projections,” according to BCS Chief Financial Officer Tina Thorpe.
The Buncombe County Association of Educators delivered a three-pronged request to the Buncombe County Board of Education at its April 11 meeting that had the support of nearly 1,200 teachers and more than 100 community allies.
Until recently, local school districts had largely avoided the national wave of book bans. Despite some activists making noise in local school board meetings last summer, there had been no formal requests to remove books from school libraries in Asheville City or Buncombe County schools. But by November, 20 books had been challenged by a group of parents at Enka High School.
“Reading here about the new Buncombe County Schools board book ban, I might run for the board instead of the Soil and Water Conservation District in opposition and also to represent childless residents against the parental ‘rights’ dictatorship of sociobiological ideocracy.”
One month after banning a book from all district high schools, the Buncombe County Board of Education unanimously agreed at its March 7 meeting to keep nine others available to students at Enka High School.
While one local public school district redraws its district lines and the other considers merging its two middle schools, Buncombe County is moving forward with a study to explore consolidation of the two districts.
At its Feb. 8 meeting, the Buncombe County Board of Education voted unanimously to remove author Ellen Hopkins’ fictional 2009 book, Tricks. Three other books under consideration — Hopkins’ Perfect, Patricia McCormick’s Sold and Sarah Gruen’s Water for Elephants — remain on county high school library shelves, based on recommendations from the Buncombe County Schools’ Media and Technology Advisory Committee.
The Buncombe County Board of Education doesn’t particularly like any of its options for new voting maps, as required by a law the N.C. General Assembly passed last fall. As a result, several attendance zones might see up to 30% of its population reassigned to other districts.
Some parents have made frequent appearances at school board meetings to argue that various books — usually related to sexual health or depicting LGBTQ+ students and families — don’t belong in libraries accessible to children. The latest edition of Xpress’s WTF — “Want the Facts?” — series looks at the policies and procedures that determine how books are chosen for school and county libraries.
After collecting a month’s worth of feedback from parents, teachers and community members, Board member Rob Elliot said the board did its best to mirror the community’s wishes in the policies while still following state law.
Representatives from the Asheville-based Campaign for Southern Equality asked board members to slow down approval of policies related to Senate Bill 49 during public comment. They believe the bill contradicts Title IX, a federal law that prohibits discrimination in schools on the basis of gender.
The report shows that Buncombe County Schools cohort graduation rate is nearly five points higher than the state average.
For the first time since 2015, students at 20 Buncombe Schools exceeded growth expectations during the 2022-23 school year, eight more than last year.
More than 20 teachers, staff members and parents spoke during the three-plus hour meeting in the Minitorium at 175 Bingham Rd., advocating for higher pay for all school employees in front of a crowd that at one point overflowed into an adjacent room with a live stream of the meeting.
Classified staff — school employees without teaching certifications — would get an average increase of 17.4% over 2019 pay, starting July 1, if the plan is fully implemented, said Tina Thorpe, chief financial officer for Buncombe County Schools.
The new technology will include GPS tracking of school buses, onboard cameras and an accompanying parent app.