ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Due to the destruction from Helene, local governments in western North Carolina don’t have the funds to support their school systems. Educators are worried districts will have to cut important roles.
Jessica Williams is a civics literacy teacher at Asheville High School. She’s seen firsthand how school can become a safe space for students, especially after the devastation of Helene.
“That is why I teach, because all I've ever wanted to do is to make a difference in this world,” Williams said. “And these teachers are completely amazing. They care for each other. They care about our world. They care about our community.”
Williams said after Helene many local governments don’t have funds to support their school districts.
“The county commissioners have hard decisions to make,” Williams said. “Because you only have so much money. So how do you spend that money?”
In Buncombe County, one-third of public school revenue comes from local government. In January, the county commissioners cut $4.7 million from the budget for Buncombe County Schools and Asheville City Schools. A funding decrease like that can lead to cutting staff positions or closing schools.
“I think that if you work in a school, you have a heart for kids and that shows up every day,” Williams said. “So that is why we need money and why we need support. Because you're talking about losing people. And when you lose people, that's one less connection that a kid doesn't have.”
Williams and other educators rallied outside the General Assembly in Raleigh multiple times to ask for more funding for Buncombe County.
“Our students deserve a safe and secure future,” Shanna Peele said. “They have been through so much with the hurricane. It's not fair to put our most vulnerable population on the line when it comes to budget cuts.”
Peele is the president of the Buncombe County Association of Educators and said Helene created extra expenses for schools as well.
“Our students who are homeless as classified under McKinney-Vento [Homeless Assistance Act] almost quadrupled,” Peele said. “There are over 1,200 students who are homeless in Buncombe County alone right now. What that looks like is just a really large number of extra transportation costs that our county is having to pay for.”
North Carolina schools get money from the state based on their current enrollment numbers. But with so many students still displaced from Helene, the number of students in the classroom isn’t an accurate representation of the total population.
“Kids can show back up tomorrow or next week,” Williams said. “And even if they don't come back next week, most likely they'll be here in August. So we need that money now, so we can properly plan and staff, so we can be supportive of our students.”
Educators are asking the General Assembly to freeze state funding for now until the rest of their students have a chance to get back on their feet and back in the classroom.
“Understand that we won't get the big amount that we want, but I would love to see the fact of how we can work together locally, state and federally to make sure that no teachers and no staff are cut,” Williams said. “I think that we can always figure out ways to, you know, get the paper, get the pencils, but you can't just pop in a body, right? And especially someone who loves kids and who wants to be here.”
School districts across the state are working on their budgets for the upcoming school year. Buncombe County educators are hoping to have answers from the General Assembly sooner rather than later so they can accurately plan the best ways to support their students.