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North Carolina Could Cut School Days PDF Print E-mail
Written by Janna Smeltzer   
Tuesday, 26 May 2009 00:00
A House subcommittee has proposed reducing instructional days over the next two school years as part of 11 percent budget cuts for state education, and school transportation faces potential cuts totaling 5 percent.

Derek Graham, school transportation section chief at the Department of Public Instruction, said that transportation will likely be cut by 5 percent regardless of the final number of school days. The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Education budget draft would need to be approved before being inserted into the house budget. Graham added that the proposal was absent from the senate budget.

In addition to reducing the number of school year days from 180, the budget would also reduce increase class size by cutting 6,000 teacher positions and more than 4,600 teacher assistant jobs, reduce non-instructional support including clerical and custodian jobs by 5 percent, and over the next two years eliminate funding of staff development.

“There is much more discussion ahead,” added June Atkinson, the state’s superintendent. “It is clear the state faces an extremely difficult economic situation and that sacrifices will have to be made.”
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