Latest news with #WSFCS
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Get the Facts: Where WS/FCS budget crisis stands days from start of school year (continued)
Get the Facts: Where WS/FCS budget crisis stands days from start of school year (continued) Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Get the Facts: Where WS/FCS budget crisis stands days from start of school year
Get the Facts: Where WS/FCS budget crisis stands days from start of school year Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools interim superintendent addresses budget deficit
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (WGHP) — Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools Interim Superintendent Catty Moore faced the media on Tuesday afternoon for the first time since her appointment. Moore was straightforward in her answers and admitted to a new discovery posing more financial challenges on top of the $42 million deficit. The district, in conjunction with HIL Consultants, has been doing a deep dive into their books and learned there are discrepancies in federal withholding stretching back to at least 2021. FOX8 spoke to Moore and asked if she could quantify the problem. 'I can tell you we are looking into an issue with the IRS and federal withholding,' Moore said. Moore said the district and its financial consultants are still digging into years of financial records and have identified an issue with how taxes were collected that might cause the $42 million deficit to increase. She said the board was quickly notified of the potential tax withholding issue, and the research is ongoing into exactly how much it entails. 'The fact that it goes back to 2021 … makes you wonder about what the number could be,' Moore said. 'As I've looked at what I know right now, it's happening at transition times with staff in those offices. We know business continuity is incredibly important, and when you have high turnover and transition of staff, things get missed.' Moore is now tasked with battling the budget and helping the district find better footing before handing the job off to the new superintendent. 'There is good work that's happening, and you've got to deal with the fire that's biggest in front of you, but there is a lot of good work that's happening in the district that needs to continue,' Moore said. Moore's plan to reduce the deficit can be read below. 24-25-and-25-26-Budget-update-for-the-Board-June-10-BOE-Meeting-1-1Download On May 23, the school district posted a community budget update to its website, addressing the deficit, which it said stemmed from falling enrollment and reductions in state and federal funding. State auditor's office investigates Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools' finances At the time, the district said, 'The current estimated shortfall is approximately $42 million, meaning the budget has been overspent by about 5.3 percent.' WS/FCS noted that it had identified $23.3 million in savings for next year with a total goal of finding $36.3 million in savings. The district has teamed up with an outside consulting firm, HIL Consultants, to work towards balancing the budget for the 2024-2025 fiscal year, which ends on June 30. The district requested a one-time $32 million loan from the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners on June 5, which the board rejected. WS/FCS's proposed budget of $180 million was approved for the next fiscal year, and the commissioners agreed to a payment plan for an existing $5 million debt that the school district owed them. The district owes about $18 million to the state as well. With the loan denied, the school district said it could allocate money from next year's $180 million to cover part of the deficit. Superintendent Tricia McManus retired at the end of the 2024-2025 school year, with Catty Moore taking over the role on an interim basis. WS/FCS Chief Financial Officer Thomas Kranz will resign effective June 30. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Interim WS/FCS leader faces funding chasm
A member of the N.C. State Board of Education who has experience as a superintendent is stepping in to help lead the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools deal with a deficit that has exploded in recent weeks to nearly $80 million. Catty Quiroz Moore will serve as interim superintendent while the WS/FCS Board of Education works to hire a permanent replacement for Superintendent Tricia McManus, who will retire at the end of June, WS/FCS announced Tuesday night. Moore has spent more than three decades in North Carolina public schools. She currently serves as an at-large member of the State Board of Education and recently completed a term as interim superintendent of Durham Public Schools, where she provided critical leadership during a time of fiscal uncertainty, a WS/FCS press release said. From 2018 to 2023, Moore was the superintendent of the Wake County Public School System, the largest district in North Carolina. 'Fiscal uncertainty' barely begins to describe the problems facing WS/FCS, which have compounded alarmingly the past two months. What had been announced in March as an $8 million deficit facing the school district for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, now has become $42 million, according to a May 22 letter McManus sent the State Board of Education. The school board will entirely drain its unspent reserves and will still owe the state of North Carolina $18 million, the letter said. In addition, what had been in March a projected $16 million deficit in the fiscal year that begins July 1 has more than doubled. McManus told the school board Tuesday more than $23 million in cuts, which include a reduction of over 200 positions, has been identified for the 2025-26 fiscal year, but school officials are seeking another $13 million. Among cuts under consideration, McManus said: Eliminating transportation for elementary and middle school students attending choice, or magnet, schools would save the district $3.5 million; increasing class sizes by one student would save approximately $3.5 million; and increasing class sizes by two students would save about $6.6 million. Other possible measures include not completely covering employees' dental insurance, which the district currently does; eliminating out-of-state travel; eliminating staff cellphones; doing only black-and-white printing; and ending the waxing of school floors except for corridors. Two school board members, Robert Barr and Susan Miller, called for firing McManus and said that Chief Financial Officer Thomas Kranz should have been fired rather than allowed to resign on May 9. Barr said he often hears from local residents upset about the district's budget shortfalls. 'Our CFO was allowed to resign. In reality, he should not have been able to resign,' Barr said. 'He should be terminated.' Miller suggested firing McManus on the spot, but her motion violated the school board's rules of order, so it did not come to a vote. Board member Richard Watts called suggestion of firing McManus 'political grandstanding.' In a press conference after the meeting, board vice chair Alex Bohannon said firing McManus would be an overreaction. 'I think it can be very easy to look at ... the simple solution, which is, 'I need to find a single person to be able to blame for this, and then I need to hold them accountable and hold their feet to the fire,' and I understand that completely,' Bohannon said. 'I also would say that, like school system finance, the answer to that is really nuanced.'
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
School board appoints some new principals
The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools Board of Education has approved several principal appointments at schools throughout the district, including Walkertown Elementary School and Glenn High School. And another of the principals formerly served at East Forsyth Middle School. Stephanie Jordan was approved as principal of Walkertown Elementary. She currently is principal of Wiley Magnet Middle School and previously led Frank Morgan Elementary School and Hanford Dole Elementary School in Rowan County. Under her leadership, schools have consistently met or exceeded growth expectations, and she was recognized as a Top 5 Finalist for WS/FCS Principal of the Year in both 2022 and 2023. Jordan has a doctorate in educational leadership from High Point University and has served in various leadership roles across the district, including president of the Forsyth Principals Association. Walter Johnson will be the new principal of Glenn. He is currently serving as co-principal at Parkland High School, where he has a focus on student engagement, community partnerships, and academic achievement. He previously served as principal of Forbush Middle School in Yadkin County and held assistant principal positions at East Forsyth, Walkertown and Parkland high schools in WS/FCS. Johnson holds an education specialist degree from East Carolina University, a master's in school administration from Appalachian State University, and a bachelor's in middle grades education from Winston-Salem State University. Donald Wyatt, a former principal at East Forsyth Middle, is returning to Sedge Garden, where he previously worked, to be principal there. He joined WS/FCS in 2010 as a teacher at Union Cross Elementary School. Prior to that, he taught in Craven County Schools. He served as assistant principal and then principal of Sedge Garden Elementary School. After his term as principal at East Forsyth Middle, he was principal of Mount Tabor High School.
