ALAMANCE COUNTY, N.C. — As the Alamance-Burlington School System (ABSS) plans for the next school year, it first needs to address its financial situation.
The district has more than 3.5 million dollars in debt.
Let’s break down the numbers and see how they plan to cut back.
ABSS said they need over $11 million to operate like a well-oiled machine. The district said $2 million is allocated to charter schools.
This comes after the district fell into a financial crisis following several emergencies, including mold issues and storm damage.
The district said saving money involves reorganizing several positions.
ABSS is considering adjusting administrative positions and changing the number of nurses and assistant principals at each school to reduce costs.
However, Interim Superintendent Bill Harrison stressed that there will be no job cuts during this process.
“We are looking at a stricter numerical allocation of assistant principles that may alter months of employment or the number of assistant principals in several places,” Interim Superintendent Bill Harrison shared. “But everyone will have at least one assistant principal, which is what we want."
We asked him how those adjustments apply to nursing positions throughout the district.
"All of our schools have a nurse right now, even though we have six vacancies," Harrison explained, "Some schools don't have a nurse, but we take two of our small elementary schools, and we share a nurse, so that's how it's going to be taken care of.”
The district also plans to remove 4th and 5th grades from virtual school.
ABSS Virtual School PTO President Mandy Campbell said they are sad to see the cuts.
“We have a really great community at the virtual school, and we hate to lose anyone there because we are a tight family,” Campbell shared.
The school board has until April 22 to comment on the proposals.
ABSS aims to present its budget request to county commissioners on May 15.