The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School Superintendent Tricia McManus announced a new report showing the 2026 fiscal year budget is unexpectedly short an additional $13 million dollars.
In McManus’ presentation to the Board of Education on Tuesday, she warned the report for the current year was not yet complete and it is possible those overages would exceed previous projections as well.
This surprise comes after McManus revealed a plan in March to reconcile the known $8 million shortage for the current year and $16 million shortage for the 2026 fiscal year. Layoffs and wage cuts comprised nearly $18 million of the savings in addition to non-personnel actions like reducing funding for supplemental programs and ending a contract with a substitute teacher staffing agency.
However, the school finance consulting firm hired by the district at the direction of the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction concluded those projections were inaccurate and would not sufficiently balance the budget.
“Our community places its trust in us to manage public funds with accuracy and accountability. We did not meet that standard. We are already taking corrective action. Our goal is not only to fix past issues, but to rebuild trust and ensure this never happens again,” McManus said in a statement last week.
The Forsyth County Association of Educators showed up to the meeting in large numbers. Dressed in red, members remained standing and implored the board to ask for more funding from the county, state, or philanthropic institutions to make up for the shortfall. Others communicated the strain and burnout teachers were already experiencing even before the initial cuts. Many repeated the request for more transparency.
A new plan to save an additional $13 million is expected before the end of the month. The next Board of Education meeting will take place on May 27 at 6:30 p.m.
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