Wayne County residents urge board to protect public schools as voucher spending and arts cuts continue

Speakers at a Wayne County Board of Education meeting urged the board to oppose the state's expansion of private school vouchers and to act to preserve arts positions after recent and proposed cuts to arts staffing.

Zaire Webb, a Wayne County native and a senior at East Carolina University, told the board, "We are currently we've already spent in in our last budget a hundred and $85,000,000 on private school vouchers, while our public schools are being cut time and time again." Webb said the state plans "to push over close to a half a billion dollars to private school vouchers in the next coming up budget" and reported that "these school vouchers... about 7,000 in total" go largely to families with higher incomes, saying "over half of them make a hundred and $15,000 a year." Webb added, "We're giving out money to the wealthy when we need to be giving money to the people that actually need it."

Kathy Larson, identified as a Wayne County parent, said she is "concerned about what we've been hearing about even more, cuts to arts education positions across our county in the coming years." Larson read excerpts from the board's March statement declaring March Arts in Our Schools Month, then said, "from a parent's perspective, it looks like there's a huge disconnect between those words and what is actually happening in our schools... Our kids don't need well written statements. They need arts teachers. They need arts education. They need action."

The board did not take an action on funding or staffing during the public-comment segment. In response to concerns about arts and staffing, Dr. Richard, speaking as superintendent, said that funding for instructional positions "comes for instructional positions in Wayne County Public Schools in a number of categories from state taxpayer dollars" and that "enhancement funded positions, which are the arts and other positions, come from a different state funding allotment source." He added, "I am a superintendent that stands firmly behind the arts, but I have to have the dollars to be able to support those things." Dr. Richard warned that the district cannot spend money it does not have: "We cannot pay our utility bill from our savings account. That will come to a bad end in a short period of time."

Speakers and commenters urged the board to explore creative local solutions and to consider ways to preserve arts positions while acknowledging the limits the superintendent described on reallocating funds.

No formal motion or vote on vouchers or arts staffing changes occurred during the meeting; the remarks were part of the public-comment period.