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Rep. Donny Lambeth rejects WS/FCS request for $50M amid financial crisis

Rep. Donny Lambeth, R-Forsyth, discusses the North Carolina House's budget proposal at a news conference in the Legislative Building in Raleigh, N.C., on Tuesday, May 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Makiya Seminera)
MAKIYA SEMINERA/AP
Rep. Donny Lambeth told school district officials the time to make a request for help was back in April.

The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools Board of Education sent a letter to state legislators this week asking for $50 million to help reconcile its deficit.

Officials said “draconian measures” would need to be taken without financial aid from the state. But, according to Rep. Donny Lambeth, that help isn’t coming.

In an email shared with WFDD, Lambeth told district officials the time to make a request for help was back in April, and that all deadlines for bill filings have passed for the session.

"So while this is not the news you may have preferred, it is the reality of how the General Assembly is organized and the schedules we work under," Lambeth said in the email. "Good luck in cleaning up the financial disaster. I would buckle up and dig deep to avoid further financial issues."

The district has another request out to county commissioners for $8.5 million. That will be voted on in a couple of weeks.

Officials say major cuts to staff and programming will be necessary to recover without outside help.

Amy Diaz began covering education in North Carolina’s Piedmont region and High Country for WFDD in partnership with Report For America in 2022. Before entering the world of public radio, she worked as a local government reporter in Flint, Mich. where she was named the 2021 Rookie Writer of the Year by the Michigan Press Association. Diaz is originally from Florida, where she interned at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and freelanced for the Tampa Bay Times. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of South Florida, but truly got her start in the field in elementary school writing scripts for the morning news. You can follow her on Twitter at @amydiaze.

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