Public Radio for the Piedmont and High Country
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Low-Performing Schools In NC Face Budget Cuts

File photo. KERI BROWN/WFDD

North Carolina's low-performing schools will be getting less financial help this year. This is a result of budget cuts from the State Board of Education.

The board approved Tuesday $2.5 million in cuts, following a directive from state lawmakers to eliminate over $3 million from the Department of Public Instruction.

The News and Observer of Raleigh reports the cuts will include layoffs and the elimination of vacant positions in the divisions that help low-performing schools and provide training to teachers. According to board member Eric Davis, the cuts will especially hurt districts that rely most heavily on the state.

Board members say they made the cuts reluctantly, blaming state legislators for the mandate.

This division highlights ongoing tensions between the state board and the Department of Public Instruction, which works with North Carolina's public schools.

The Republican-led legislature wants to see power transferred from the board to state Superintendent Mark Johnson.

Johnson called the funding cuts “challenging,” but says he believes DPI will emerge stronger and more efficient.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

Support quality journalism, like the story above,
with your gift right now.

Donate