North Carolina Schools Seeking State Funding for School Repairs

As school children returned to their classrooms for the 2021-22 school year, not all entered clean, well-maintained facilities. Students in Guilford County, North Carolina returned to buildings with nonworking air conditioning, mold, and unsafe drinking water, due in part to a stalled state budget, WFMY-TV reports.

Schools are also short-staffed, with many custodians and other support staff underpaid. On Sunday, the Guilford County Association of Educators (GCAE) held a press conference calling on state lawmakers to pass the stalled state budget and include increased funding for school building repairs and a support staff pay of at least US$15 per hour. The group gathered outside Smith High School in Greensboro, North Carolina, one of three public schools in the district that sent students home last week due to broken air conditioning systems.

“Today we are asking lawmakers to make a true commitment to our schools,” said Kenya Donaldson, GCAE president, at the start of the press conference. “In Guilford County students are losing instruction time due to school closures around our aging buildings and failing HVAC systems.”

Schools in Guilford County have more than 700 pending work orders related to HVAC maintenance. School district officials said it could take 10 years to fix all the problems due to a lack of funding. In the meantime, the school district also has approximately 325 job openings, including positions for custodians, due to the low pay and qualified workers seeking jobs elsewhere.

North Carolina’s two-year state budget was supposed to be in place by July 1. The House and Senate leadership are currently in negotiations before the budget can be sent to the governor.

“We ask a school construction bond be put in place on the 2022 ballot for the people of North Carolina to have a voice regarding the state of school facilities,” Donaldson said.

Parents on the GCAE spoke about the various hazards caused by the poor conditions of the schools. One parent of a student at Joyner Elementary in Greensboro said water pipes have burst and flooded the schools, leading to ongoing mold problems. The HVAC system beaks every year and the school has been so hot her son has suffered from heat exhaustion and vomiting.