The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Board of Education met Tuesday to finalize budget priorities for commissioners.
District officials presented a request for an extra $33 million to the county last week to cover critical needs that don’t fit into its roughly $180 million budget.
Commissioners said funding the full ask would be difficult, but directed officials to pick their top priorities in case the county can provide a portion.
At a school board workshop this week, members agreed that covering state-mandated raises, which haven’t yet been finalized, needs to come first. Chief Human Resources Officer Chris Weikart estimated that cost.
“We know it's high, we don't know how high, but we went through and using our average salaries, we're pretty comfortable it's gonna be somewhere in that four to $6 million range," Weikart said.
If the county provides more money than that, the school board wants to restore positions in the Exceptional Children department, as well as middle and high school teachers.
But if there’s no extra funding, officials say they’ll need to revisit the budget and potentially make cuts to cover increased salaries.
Superintendent Don Phipps will present the established priorities to county commissioners on Thursday.