HCS budgets for declining student population

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Join the March Hare and the Mad Hatter as the Cherokee Historical Association and Havoc Movement Company present “Alice in Wonderland.” See this Appalachian spin on the classic tale starting April 1, then throughout the month on select nights from 7–9 p.m. Only in Cherokee’s Mountainside Th eatre. For dates and tickets: VisitCherokeeNC.com

HANNAH MCLEOD STAFF WRITER

Haywood County Association of Educators has put forth suggested amendments to the school board policy regarding parental inspection of and objection to instructional materials.

“We want to make sure that when instructional materials are brought before administration or the board of education, it’s a fair and equitable process across the board,” HCAE president Tara O’Laughlin told The Smoky Mountain News. “Of course, parents can have objections, but we would like teachers to be treated as professionals, weigh in, and have a more objective way for this to be done.”

The changes proposed by HCAE outline a process by which a complaint regarding instructional material is reviewed by a school-level committee made up of educators and administrators. Any determination made by this school-level committee can be appealed to the superintendent and finally to the board of education if the complainant is not satisfied with the school-level or district-level committees’ determinations.

The proposed changes to board policy came in response to the recent pulling of “Dear Martin” from a 10th grade English class at Tuscola High School. Because convening a committee to review parental objections to instructional material is currently optional, there was no recourse for input from educators after Superintendent Dr. Bill Nolte made the decision to pull the book.

“These amendments will alleviate the subjective nature when instructional materials are brought into question,” O’Laughlin said in a presentation to the board of education at its April 4 meeting. “The amendments to this policy in no way take away the power from parents in regards to questioning instructional material. Rather it creates an equitable process by which materials will be reviewed.”

The process for parental objection to instructional material is laid out in Policy 3210. First, parents have a right to inspect all instructional materials, except for tests or assessments. The process for parental objection to instructional materials in the current policy involves written objection submitted to the principal of the school. Then the principal may establish a committee to review the objection.

If the principal or the committee determines that any material violates constitutional or other legal rights of the parent or student, the principal or the committee shall either remove the material from instructional use or accommodate the particular student and parent.

This is where HCAE is proposing changes to the policy. The proposed policy updates say that upon receiving a parental complaint, the principal shall forward the complaint to a Building Level Committee. This committee will F

HANNAH MCLEOD STAFF WRITER

During the COVID-19 pandemic, North Carolina schools did not incur budget cuts due to lower student populations across the board. Now, as the pandemic takes a backseat in the daily lives of many, schools are being held to accountable for their actual per diem numbers. For Haywood County Schools, this means there is less money available.

“The biggest problem is fewer students in a very short time,” said Nolte.

During a March 31 work session, Nolte presented a proposed budget to the board of education. He painted a picture of a school system that would suddenly receive lower funding in the coming year due to a declining student population, a decrease in COVID relief funds and pay increases required by the state budget, but one that would nonetheless be in good shape, in part thanks to a healthy fund balance.

“It’s a little frustrating when, as a superintendent, I feel like we did everything, during the pandemic, that the federal government, the state government and the local community wanted us to do,” said Nolte. “Now that state and federal money is being pulled back quickly, I’m not sure that a lot of school systems who did what we did will have an easy transition.”

Despite the loss of COVID funds, Nolte made it clear that the biggest obstacle for Haywood County Schools was the decline in student population. Public schools are funded a certain amount for every student enrolled, and HCS enrollment has declined

be made up of one media specialist, three educators in related fields, two administrators and two students. This committee is then charged with examining the complaint, surveying professional reviews of the instructional material in question, determining the extent to which the material supports the curriculum, discussing the material and preparing a then report of findings and determination. It will ten give copies of this report to the principal and the complainant within 20 days of the complaint being filed.

If the complainant is not satisfied with the committee’s determination, they may appeal to the superintendent. The superintendent will then convene a similar committee that will follow the same determination process.

If the disagreement continues, the parent may then appeal to the board of education. The board of education will forward the complaint to a Community Committee to review the complaint and the material again. The Board of Education shall make a final determination within 20 business days after receiving the Community Committee’s written report.

“The changes proposed to 3210 are supported by an ever-growing number of signatures to the petition being circulated throughout the county. Not only from a by almost 500 students since early 2019. During the 2019-2020 school year, there were 7,100 students enrolled in the system, this school year there were 6,557 students enrolled.

Those enrollment figures do not include students at charter schools in Haywood. Though charter schools in the county have gained students since the start of the pandemic, according to Nolte, they have not gained half the students that Haywood County Public Schools have lost.

For each student enrolled, the school system gets about $2,300 locally and over $7,000 at the state level.

Nolte also described falling birth rates in Haywood County. According to the superintendent, birth rates are generally closely tied with the number of children entering the school system within five to six years. From 2016 to 2019, the number of births to people in Haywood County were as follows: 616, 617, 540, 525.

“So unless we have a rapid influx of families with school age children, we cannot expect our student population to start growing because of the birth rate,” said Nolte. “I show you all of this to let you know, it is the responsible and necessary thing to do to make our school system the size, financially and personnel wise, of a school system that has 6,500 students rather than over 7,000.”

One result of this loss in funds is the need for fewer locally funded teachers. Haywood County currently funds 34 teachers locally. The budget for the 2022-23 school year allocates just over $1.2 million

plethora of educators, but community leaders as well,” said O’Laughlin. “Teachers in Haywood County deserve the trust and respect within our classroom and the materials we choose. Our students deserve due process and a fair and equitable system in place if our professionalism is brought into question.”

O’Laughlin said the policy updates are “commonplace in most states and counties.” In The Smoky Mountain News’ fourcounty coverage area, each school district has policies aligning with that of current HCS board policy under which a principal may establish a committee to review objections. Buncombe County School Board has policy aligning with the proposed updates from HCAE. Asheville City School Board has a policy similar to that of current HCS policy, with the option to convene a committee similar to that in proposed policy changes suggested by HCAE.

All proposed policy changes are presented to the board of education during public meetings by Associate Superintendent Dr. Trevor Putnam and are considered by the board prior to adoption. The next Haywood County Schools Board of Education meeting is May 9. Find the petition with proposed policy changes from HCAE at tinyurl.com/3d5ur26h or visit the HCAE Facebook page. for locally funded teachers, as opposed to $1.8 million in the current school year, which would cover 13 teachers and two lead teachers, plus their benefits and stipends. According to Nolte, this is the budget goal for the start of the next school year but will depend on retirements and resignations.

Other major local expenses include central office administration at just over $1 million, non-instructional support at just over $7 million and employee supplements at over $3 million. The total expenditure for the local current expense budget is $18,277,556 — $1.5 million more than the previous year.

A little more than $16.5 million will come from the county appropriation, $345,000 from fines and forfeitures, $24,000 from ABC revenues and $1.1 million from the fund balance. Although HCS has set aside over $1 million in fund balance money, Nolte said the school system has consistently used less fund balance than anticipated in years past and plans to do the same in the upcoming year.

Total capital expenditures for the 2022-23 school year are $900,000. This amount will allow the school system to address eight of its most pressing needs. A generator needs replacement at Clyde Elementary, spare Bard units for maintenance, new exterior doors at Meadowbrook Elementary, a new water heater at Pisgah, a new fire alarm panel at Riverbend Elementary, paving repairs at various schools, a new roof in the Waynesville Middle cafeteria and a new gym floor also at Waynesville Middle School. The capital budget is funded by state sales tax dollars.

The total school nutrition fund for the 2022-23 school year is $5.2 million. The Child Nutrition Program operates independently of other programs. The budget for the upcoming school year shows an increase of 3.25%.

“It’s hard to look at past patterns in making the budget for this year,” said School Nutrition Director Allison Francis. “We’ve had the luxury of being able to feed children other than our students and that has helped us with our revenues, and that goes away as of June 30. The waiver for all students to eat for free is also going away.”

Labor and benefits make up 52% of the school nutrition budget, food and supplies account for 39% and overhead accounts for 8%. Pay increases mandated in the state budget added about $162,000 to the labor and benefits portion of the budget.

Due to an increase in food prices, HCS nutrition department recently announced an increase in school meal prices. The cost of breakfast was increased to $2, lunch for prek through grade 5 was increased to $3.50, and lunch for grades 6-12 was increased to $3.75.

The 2022-2023 budget for Haywood County Schools was approved unanimously at the school board meeting April 4.

Have a Voice & Share Your Ideas!

Join us on Tuesday, April 19th at 6:00PM

Haywood County Historic Courthouse 215 N Main Street, Waynesville

Haywood County Recreation is having a public meeting to hear your ideas on a proposed Haywood County Bike Park just off Farmview Drive in Waynesville, NC.

The proposed Haywood County Bike Park will have a pump track, adventure playground, and picnic pavilion with restrooms. Future phases will have paved walking trails and natural surface trails.

We welcome your feedback. Please drop by this community meeting to discuss the NC Parks and Recreation Trust Fund grant application for the proposed Haywood County Bike Park.