GUILFORD COUNTY, N.C. — It didn't take long for the Guilford County Board of Commissioners to approve its new budget of just over $675 million dollars, with the biggest chunk of the funding going to schools and education.
Commission Chair Skip Alston said the Board worked closely together to come up with an overall budget that would work for everyone, without a tax increase.
"We have decided that we are putting politics aside - and we are going to be thinking about the people," he said.
Nearly half of the total funding, more than $300 million, will go to education, with most of that going to Guilford County Schools, specifically. Commissioner Carlvena Foster explained how those funds will help.
"This allocation is intended to be used, among other uses, to cover increases in compensation for locally paid positions, increase funding for teacher supplements by $8 million, and allow for a $15 minimum pay rate for school nutrition workers," she said.
Alston said they listened to educators. He considers the teacher supplement increase a big win as the largest increase the county's ever given.
"We heard them when they said - we don't want all of our experienced teachers going to neighboring counties. We want to make sure they stay here, stay home."
Not every commissioner liked every part of this budget, however, they unanimously voted in favor of it.
Commissioner Alan Perdue had this to say about the funding for GCS.
"I wholeheartedly support education, but what I don't support is not taking care of business," he said, "I want to make it clear that - at least this commissioner, and I hope this board - wants to see the school system put these funds to use for the needs they've been discussing for quite some time: safety and security is one of those."
Alston said, moving forward that's very much a top priority.
"We are committed to making sure we give the school system the funds in order to make sure that all of our buildings and our children and our teachers are secure."
You can learn more about the budget here.
