Guilford County School Official: We Can't Cut Anymore

At a press conference Wednesday, the district's chief financial officer detailed the school budget recommended to the Board of Education by superintendent Maurice "Mo" Green.

The district is asking for nearly $26 million from the county commission for the 2015/2016 school year.

Angie Henry says the money is needed to cover impacts from the state budget, as well as new state mandates.

“The governor's budget didn't include funding for driver's education, so we are anticipating a decrease of $1.3 million. We are also anticipating a decrease of $1.2 million in teacher assistant funding that wasn't in the governor's budget proposal.”

School officials say a portion of money would go towards state mandated salary increases for locally funded teachers and principals.

“The salary increases we are requesting are the salary increases that are included in Governor McCrory's budget,” says Henry. “The request to increase the beginning teacher salary from $33,000 a year to $35,000 a year will cost us about $600,000. To provide the tier increase that's included in the governor's budget for teachers that reach five, ten and fifteen years of experience–that would cost us about one million dollars.”

Henry says the funding will help restore nearly 150 teaching positions that have been cut in recent years and pay for costs associated with growing enrollment in charter schools.

Guilford County Schools is the third largest district in North Carolina, with more than 72,000 students.

A public hearing on the issue will be held on April 30. The Board of Education will submit its official request for the budget increase to the county commission in May.

Follow Keri Brown on Twitter @kerib_news