Legislators tell Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools to hire a lobbyist

Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School Board members and district leaders met with local legislators this week.

But while education officials pitched the need for statewide systemic change, representatives said they were there to talk money — not philosophy. 

School district representatives arranged the meeting on Wednesday in part to highlight the challenges of running a school system in North Carolina. 

Like low teacher salaries — which are set by the legislature — insufficient state allotments for positions such as assistant principals and school social workers, and a lack of funding for tutoring programs, Pre-K and more. 

But about half an hour in, Forsyth County Rep. Amber Baker said she needed to see the specific dollar amounts it would take to meet the district’s needs.

“Even if we can't do it, we at least know where you're going," Baker said. "And so this right here is not helpful.”

Sen. Paul Lowe, who represents District 32, echoed her comments. 

“It does not help us if you know, you're sharing all, you know, I majored in philosophy, all this philosophical stuff," Lowe said. "No, just say what you want, say what you gotta have. And then we can try to figure out what part of that pie we may be able to do something with."

Superintendent Tricia McManus said they were trying to advocate for changes that would benefit schools across the state — not just one-time funds to their district alone. Still, she said she would get a list of priorities and specific funding requests to the legislators in a few days.

Toward the end of the meeting, Forsyth County Rep. Donny Lambeth offered another piece of advice: hire a lobbyist.

“Because I can tell you, millions of dollars came for Forsyth County because we had someone there advocating," Lambeth said. "Tanglewood Park Clubhouse. Guess who funds part of that? Belews Creek. Guess who's funding part of that? And that wasn't on our radar necessarily. But she was able to constantly remind us and that helped.” 

District officials said they’d look into hiring a lobbyist, and hoped they could continue regular meetings with the legislators to discuss education.

Amy Diaz covers education for WFDD in partnership with Report For America. You can follow her on Twitter at @amydiaze.