School board says budget falls short
GUILFORD COUNTY — Several school board members publicly pressed Tuesday night for the Guilford County Board of Commissioners to do more for the county's public schools than was called for in the county manager's budget recommendation for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
Several members of the Guilford County Board of Education used their speaking time at the end of the board's meeting Tuesday to either express their hopes about the budget, voice their frustrations or, in one case, openly declare 'shame on them' for not already stepping up to provide Guilford County Schools with more resources.
School board member Dianne Bellamy Small, a Democrat whose district includes part of High Point, was the most forceful in her comments, naming Commissioner Pat Tillman and alluding to Commissioner Carlvena Foster, both former members of the school board.
'Tillman used to sit right beside me and I used to kick him in his ankles, so he should know better,' she said.
She criticized the commissioners for being able to find $75 million for an incentives package for an as-yet-unidentified company expected to be named at a press conference today while the proposed budget leaves GCS employees without adequate money for pay raises and maintenance.
'Investing in education is the best win we can do for the entire community,' she said. 'If they can find $75 million to incent a company to come here, they can find the' $53 million increase that the school board had requested.
The county manager's budget proposal would increase the school system's normal operating expenses by $32 million but would not provide any money for emergency maintenance needs such as heating and air conditioning repairs.
School board member Linda Welborn, a Republican, said that while the commissioners have provided a large amount of school bonds money, GCS cannot legally pay for repairs and routine maintenance with that, and it's financially unsound to replace an entire HVAC system if can be repaired instead.
'You cannot leave us hanging with no maintenance dollars to not fix an emergency,' Welborn said. 'I'm totally in shock that somehow their logic is not there.'
In other business, the school board voted in favor of closing three elementary schools with low and shrinking enrollment, including Southern Elementary south of Greensboro, which will close after the 2026-27 school year. Its students will be divided between Allen Jay Elementary in High Point and Sumner Elementary in Greensboro, which both are being torn down to be replaced by all-new schools in 2027.
The board also approved a number of appointments of new principals, including:
* Chelsea Smith as principal at Ferndale Middle. Smith has been serving in a research analyst role since 2021 and was principal at Bessemer Elementary from 2018 to 2021.
* Howard Stimpson as interim principal at Kearns Academy. Stimpson has been a principal with Guilford County Schools since 2014 and currently serves as principal at Penn-Griffin School for the Arts.
* Abu Zaeem as principal at Penn-Griffin School for the Arts. Zaeem is the current principal at Shadybrook Elementary and also served as principal at Doris Henderson Newcomers School.
* Alexa Veach as principal at Shadybrook Elementary. Veach serves as assistant principal at Sternberger Elementary and has worked as an assistant principal at Western Middle and Ferndale Middle.
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