School funding tops concerns at forum

School funding was at the heart of every question asked at Saturday’s Community Education forum.

Around 50 parents and teachers gathered in the media center at Statesville High School to voice concerns about future cutbacks, classroom sizes, teacher assistants at various grade levels and school bus stops.

Listening and responding to those concerns were Iredell County Commissioners Ken Robertson and Frank Mitchell; state Sen. Chris Carney; and Iredell-Statesville Schools Board of Education members Anna Bonham, Bill Brater, Dr. David Cash, John Rogers Jr., Bryan Shoemaker and Charles Kelly.

Cas Karbo, the husband of an I-SS teacher, told Carney, who is a member of the state Senate education committee, that the state’s ranking as 49th in per-pupil expenditures was a “badge of shame.”

“I think we should consider that education is a very labor intensive business,” Karbo said.

“(Education) will dominate this year’s General Assembly,” Carney responded, saying that he agrees there are several areas legislators need to address.

The per-pupil expenditures ranking was one of the statistics I-SS Superintendent Brady Johnson presented as an example of areas needing improvement.

Financially speaking, Johnson said, the past four years have been difficult. I-SS has lost 287 teacher and teacher assistant positions.

The federal government provided supplemental funding through the Education Jobs Fund and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act during the previous three fiscal years, he said. But the district can’t depend on these sources every year to make up the shortfall.

Still, he added, “We have grown our performance in tight budget times.”

I-SS’ graduation rate recently increased to 85.1 percent and its overall drop-out rate dipped down to 2.27 percent. Since the 2007-08 school year, the district improved its ABC testing composite score from 72.31 percent to 80.01 percent.

Even with the improvements, the district will still strive to meet the education needs of the remaining 20 percent, he said.

Carney said he believes more of a focus should be placed on kindergarten through third grade to give students a good foundation for future learning.

Lake Norman Elementary School fourth grade teacher Nettie Gambill told the panel she wanted the state to start being honest about classroom sizes, citing recent reports that the student teacher ratio at her school was 17:1. She said there are 27 students in her class, and she and other teachers need assistants to help them.

“It’s time to fix some of these things,” she said.

I-SS Parent Advisory Council member Liz Twitchell said teachers assistants are a vital part of the classroom, especially for Exceptional Children.

So many times, teacher assistants get pulled away from these classrooms to drive buses or perform other duties, she said.

Throughout the discussion, members of the panel said they recognize the need for teacher assistants, but that current state funding levels make it impossible to meet that need.

School safety and the location of bus stops were also on some parents’ minds.

Maggie Lesh asked what bus drivers and parents could do about changing bus stops so children wouldn’t have to walk long distances. Lesh’s son Mason Barazotti died in November after being hit by a car while walking to his bus stop.

In response, panel members talked about the importance of student safety and how the state has certain requirements for each stop.

Johnson said the district would like to pick students up at their door, but the cuts in transportation funding make it difficult.

At the end of the forum, school board member Brater said the forum was very helpful for the district to hear others’ priorities.

‘Let’s look at what happens after this meeting,” Brater said.