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Parents, teachers and students urge Gaston County commissioners to fund schools fully
Summary
Dozens of parents, teachers and students told the Gaston County Board of Commissioners on April 28 that local budget choices are crippling classrooms, citing staff cuts, program losses and a $7.2M shortfall tied to property valuation changes and urging the board to increase local education funding.
Dozens of parents, teachers and students used the public-comment period at the Gaston County Board of Commissioners meeting to press the commission for significantly higher local support for Gaston County Schools.
"We spend about twice as much on public safety as we do on classroom operations," said Britney Elkin, one of the earliest speakers, and urged commissioners to prioritize prevention through education rather than reaction. Multiple speakers described classroom impacts they said resulted from underfunding: librarians, counselors, nurses and arts teachers cut, and hundreds of positions on the chopping block.
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