Winston-Salem/Forsyth board requests county funding formula while community demands transparency on $13 million gap

Winston-Salem ' The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Board of Education on May 13 approved the district's FY 2025-26 funding request based on the county's Scenario A formula, asking the county to fund the district at approximately $180 million while leaders said the budget still faces about a $13 million gap.

The vote to submit the funding request to Forsyth County followed a budget update from Superintendent Tricia McManus and months of public comment from teachers, union leaders and residents urging transparency and additional county or state support. Vice Chair Alex Bohannon moved the budget request; the board approved it by recorded vote.

The request matters because district leaders said state and federal allotments and available grant funding do not cover all positions the district counts as necessary. "If we're going to balance our budget, we would need to save, have some kind of budget savings of about 13 more million dollars," McManus said in her presentation about personnel and position-control challenges.

Public commenters, many of them school employees, said the board must provide more detail and protect staff pay. Jenny Easter, president of the Forsyth County Association of Educators, told the board: "First, a written commitment from the board of ed that every worker will receive their full salary in May and through the summer, and people because people cannot pay their rent on good intentions." Teacher Derek Setzer asked specifically about the state's corrective action plan and whether the full document would be released: "Can you guarantee full transparency of the corrective action plan due to the state board by May 15? Will the full document, not just a summary, be made public for educators and families before it's submitted?"

Board members and the superintendent said the district is taking steps to identify savings and to work with technical consultants to reconcile current-year overages while preparing a balanced budget request for next year. McManus described recent work with consultants and said the district has identified about $23 million in savings (personnel and non-personnel) already and still needs further reductions or new revenues to close the remaining gap.

The board's action is a request to county commissioners under North Carolina procedures for local funding; it does not itself adopt a balanced spending plan for next year. The superintendent and board outlined next steps that include stakeholder meetings with staff and community groups, an additional workshop for the board to review savings scenarios, and continued work with state officials and consultants to verify the current-year overages and options for balancing the FY26 budget.

Board action

The board voted to submit the FY 2025-26 funding request (scenario A funding formula) to Forsyth County. The motion was made by Vice Chair Alex Bohannon; the board approved the request (recorded vote: motion passes 7'to'2).

Discussion vs. decision

Discussion: Public commenters and teachers raised concerns about transparency, possible layoffs, cuts to instructional supports and the timing of the state's corrective-action process. Several speakers asked for earlier and fuller disclosure of financial details so staff can plan.

Direction: The superintendent and board leaders said they will host stakeholder sessions, produce additional budget detail for the board and public, and continue working with consultants to identify savings and to reconcile current-year overspending.

Decision: The board voted to submit the district's FY26 funding request under Scenario A to the county.

Clarifying details

- Estimated remaining shortfall: approximately $13,000,000 (district presentation). Source: Superintendent Tricia McManus. - Consultants engaged to identify overages and savings; Hill Consultants contract discussed separately (see separate article). District said consultants started work in late April and were engaged to support the current fiscal year through June 30. - Reported recent savings identified going into next year: approximately $23,000,000 (personnel + non-personnel) per superintendent presentation; additional savings or county revenue required to reach a balanced budget. - District enrollment and service trends cited by superintendent: increases in students served in exceptional education and multilingual learner programs; steady or improved growth in some achievement measures (district slides cited).

Proper names

[{"name":"Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools","type":"agency"},{"name":"Tricia McManus","type":"person"},{"name":"Deanna Kaplan","type":"person"},{"name":"Alex Bohannon","type":"person"},{"name":"Forsyth County Association of Educators","type":"organization"},{"name":"Forsyth County Commissioners","type":"government"}]

Speakers

[{"name":"Tricia McManus","role_title":"Superintendent","affiliation_type":"government","affiliation_name":"Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools"},{"name":"Deanna Kaplan","role_title":"Board Chair","affiliation_type":"government","affiliation_name":"Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Board of Education"},{"name":"Alex Bohannon","role_title":"Vice Chair","affiliation_type":"government","affiliation_name":"Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Board of Education"},{"name":"Jenny Easter","role_title":"President","affiliation_type":"nonprofit","affiliation_name":"Forsyth County Association of Educators"},{"name":"Derek Setzer","role_title":"Fifth-grade educator","affiliation_type":"government","affiliation_name":"Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools"},{"name":"Marty Creech","role_title":"Resident","affiliation_type":"citizen","affiliation_name":""},{"name":"Michelle Jordan","role_title":"Resident and former district staff","affiliation_type":"citizen","affiliation_name":""},{"name":"Allen Daniel","role_title":"Resident","affiliation_type":"citizen","affiliation_name":""},{"name":"Jennifer Gallaher","role_title":"Teacher","affiliation_type":"government","affiliation_name":"Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools"},{"name":"Harry Morley","role_title":"36-year veteran teacher and candidate for Congress","affiliation_type":"citizen","affiliation_name":""}]

Authorities

[{"type":"other","name":"Department of Public Instruction recommendation for technical assistance","referenced_by":["Tricia McManus"]},{"type":"other","name":"State Board of Education corrective-action letter","referenced_by":["Tricia McManus","Derek Setzer"]},{"type":"court_case","name":"Leandro-related funding and court orders (referenced in public comment)","referenced_by":["Jenny Easter","Harry Morley"]}]

Searchable tags

["budget","funding","FY26","staffing","transparency","DPI","county-request","WinstonSalem"]

Provenance

{"transcript_segments":[{"block_id":"5708.72","local_start":0,"local_end":120,"evidence_excerpt":"Thank you. I know that, Kevin is pulling up the the contract, And so this is going to just be specifically about the contract, that was mentioned earlier with Hill Consultants...","reason_code":"topicintro"},{"block_id":"10155.665","local_start":0,"local_end":120,"evidence_excerpt":"Our last discussion item, Tricia McManus, our superintendent, and doctor Chris Weigart, will present the f y 20 25 20 26 budget request...All in favor? Opposed? Motion passes 7 to 2.","reason_code":"topicfinish"}]}