To provide up-to-date and transparent information about the district’s financial condition, this is the November 21 Community Budget Update.
Debt Forgiveness
On Thursday, the Forsyth County Commissioners agreed to forgive $3.4 million of the district’s debt to match private donations raised to pay the district funds owed to the NC Department of Public Instruction.
The commissioners also agreed that additional private dollars raised should go toward paying ESS, a substitute contractor who is owed $6.1 million. This is WS/FCS’s remaining large debtor.
The $6.1 million debt is expected to be reduced by another $2.2 million in private funds pledged to the WS/FCS Futures Fund, which would also be matched toward full forgiveness of the district’s debt to the county.
Positions Opened
With the recent adoption of the final budget for this fiscal year, Interim Superintendent Catty Q. Moore has approved Human Resources to open 40 frozen school-based positions.
Chief of Schools Dr. Timisha Barnes-Jones and area superintendents reviewed the Exceptional Children (EC) program and core subject positions across schools to determine the highest-need areas. The jobs that will be filled include 13 EC program positions.
Board Workshop
The Board of Education focused on next year’s budget and reviews of financial practices at its workshop this week.
Members had their first early discussion on the 2026-27 budget. They spent more than an hour talking over their personal budget priorities and going over a series of probing questions – an exercise similar to one completed by principals last week.
They considered questions such as, “How would restoring assistant principal summer employment impact planning and student outcomes?” and “Where do you see inefficiencies in current central office structures?”
Financial Reviews
Board members also received an update on the district’s progress addressing the findings in the Office of the State Auditor’s (OSA) August Rapid Response Special Report.
The OSA report found that the district’s failure to reduce staff as student population declined and COVID-era federal funding expired, as well as poor financial practices, lead to the district’s Fiscal Year 2024-25 deficit.
Board members received a 90-Day Corrective Action Tracking Update, which documented the district’s work to reduce staff and overall budgets to align with state allotments and other process improvements addressing the report’s findings. The update also showed improved financial management and accountability practices, including monthly budget-to-actual reports and regular budget transfers. This year’s adopted budget does not include any locally funded employee bonuses; another issue raised in the OSA report.
So far, district staff have made progress toward correcting all the findings and completed two. Moore noted that the district still needs to create position control and finance manuals.
“We know there is additional work that needs to happen here to prevent this from happening in the future,” Moore said.
The board also heard from officials at Mauldin & Jenkins, the firm the NC Department of Public Instruction chose to do a review of WS/FCS internal controls.
The firm will determine the adequacy of financial controls, access fiscal governance, and provide a Corrective Action Roadmap. Officials are already working with district staff to gather data and will be on site in December. A final report of its findings will be available to the public in February.
CFO Search
To assist with finding a chief finance officer (CFO) for the district, Interim Superintendent Catty Q. Moore increased the salary for the position to $175,000-200,000.
Since the job was first advertised in the spring, only nine candidates have applied. None had experience as a CFO in a North Carolina school district.