ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) –
Teachers, parents and charter school employees pleaded with Buncombe County Commissioners on Tuesday, asking them to reverse a planned budget cut that would eliminate funding for school nurses at four campuses for the start of the next school year.
During a public comment period prior to the commission’s formal hearing on a proposed budget for fiscal year 2025, a parade of speakers decried a decision this spring to make the cost-saving move at a time when the county is dealing with a slowdown in sales tax revenues, rising expenses due to inflation and a need to increase taxes to maintain other county services.
As departments across the county government were asked to trim their original budget requests, officials also learned that it would cost up to 11 percent more than the prior year for MAHEC to provide school nurses at public schools in Buncombe County Schools and Asheville City Schools Districts, plus the four charter schools.
CHARTER SCHOOLS FEAR LOSS OF FUNDING FOR SCHOOL NURSES
In negotiating the overall cost down, from $3.5 million to $3,350,000, funding was eliminated for part-time nurses at four charter schools: Francine Delany New School for Children, Evergreen Community Charter School, Asheville PEAK Academy and ArtSpace Charter School.
“It was very frustrating to learn of this information, that our school nurse was going to be cut, without time to seek additional funding,” said Buffy Fowler, operations coordinator at Francine Delany New School for Children in West Asheville.
Fowler has been leading the charge on the issue since last month. On Tuesday, she brought school colleagues and other supporters, who shared stories of school nurses acting heroically when children faced serious health issues.
Several speakers relayed a case from recent days, when a school nurse intervened as a child was having a cardiac emergency that turned out to be Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, a congenital heart defect.
Teachers told commissioners they’re not equipped with the training to spot issues like that and said that if monitoring children’s unique health needs and medication management falls on them, it will take away from the education process.
“This is just one example of why removing school nurses from students in Buncombe County is not a good idea,” Fowler said.
She asked commissioners how she can tell more than 1,000 students in the charter schools “that they are not as deserving of these crucial health services as other students in Buncombe County Schools and Asheville City Schools.”
Commissioners did not respond to the charter school backers who spoke in public comments, and they did not address the issue during the formal hearing on the budget, when no public speakers appeared.
After the meeting, 828newsNOW.com asked Buncombe County Commission Chairman Brownie Newman if commissioners would reconsider the issue of charter school nurses in light of Tuesday’s speakers.
“I’m sure it will get further consideration,” Newman said. However, he did not take a personal position on whether to restore that funding, and he said there is a distinction between traditional public schools and the charter schools when it comes to the county’s funding role.
Commissioners are just two weeks away from finalizing the budget for fiscal year 2025, and on Tuesday Newman called it the most difficult budget cycle of his political career.
The recommended budget presented by County Manager Avril M. Pinder on May 21 is based on what she called “dramatic changes in the economic landscape” over the past few years.
One-time federal Covid-19 relief funds have run out, sales tax growth has slowed and the county has dealt with inflation and rising labor costs due to a hyper-competitive labor market and the Asheville area’s high cost of living.
As a result, Pinder said keeping the budget balanced will require using $11.7 million of prior year fund balance — keeping those reserves at 14.7 percent, just below the 15 percent the county maintains by policy. And her administration is proposing to raise the property tax rate by 5.12 percent, from 49.8 cents to 52.35 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.
On a home assessed at $350,000, the increase would mean an additional $89.25 in annual property taxes.
Of the 2.55 cent increase, 1.8 cents would be for overall county operations and 0.75 cents would go to public schools. Combined, the tax increase is projected to generate $13.6 million in revenue.
The proposed budget, available at the Buncombe County website, would include a $441,905,358 General Fund and $628,228,685 in total expenditures (including 16 other operating funds, such as enterprise funds and special district revenue).
If approved, the budget would include a 4.89 percent cost of living adjustment for county employees, which is based on a two-year average change in the Consumer Price Index. It also would include 30 new county positions in the General Fund and three new positions in the Solid Waste Enterprise Fund.
Commissioners will consider adopting a final budget at their June 18 meeting.