WS/FCS may need to cut another $5.5M from budget

Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools officials say they may need to cut an additional $5.5 million from the budget, after making several cuts to compensate for overspending last year. 

A recent audit found that WS/FCS went $16 million over last year’s budget. 

Officials say the error stemmed from incorrect revenue predictions, purchase orders being made without the board’s knowledge and the approval of bonuses the district couldn’t actually afford, among other things. 

At a tense budget workshop on Tuesday, school board members, like Sabrina Coone, expressed frustration over the issue. 

“If we are not given information that allows us to make good decisions, there's a problem," Coone said. "And I am sitting in a place right now where I feel like I have made some really bad decisions based on really bad information.” 

But district leaders also pointed to years-long funding challenges, with a decline in state allotments coinciding with an increase in economically disadvantaged students, multilingual learners and students with special needs. 

Still, Superintendent Tricia McManus says going forward the school board will be asked to approve all expenditures — though none will be coming any time soon. 

“Not a bonus for this, not a bonus for this, not a nothing," McManus said. "Because, had we been looking, we would have seen we cannot add that bonus right now.”

The district has already made roughly $12 million in cuts to account for the error, which includes a reduction of 81 central office positions. But officials say they’ll need to cut even more unless they can get additional money from county commissioners. 

And Forsyth County Manager Shontell Robinson says that’s unlikely. She’s looking to establish a funding formula for the district that prevents future haggling. 

“This formula will at least provide you with recurring, sustainable funds, and it will absolutely be higher than what I would be doing nickel and diming your budget like I do our county departments," Robinson said.

The projected funding from the county puts the district $5.5 million short of its expenses. Officials will discuss next steps at a finance committee meeting on Tuesday. 

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