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SMITHFIELD — Commissioners Chairman Butch Lawter saw where the public speakers were headed and cut them off.
Erika Hall of Clayton, Susan Wilson of Kenly and others had come to ask commissioners to set aside money specifically for school supplies.
“Teachers in all 46 schools within our county are forced to dip into their personal finances to purchase basic supplies such as pencils, paper, folders, facial tissues, cleaning products and art supplies,” Hall said.
“We urge you to consider allocating a recurring budget line item that will provide $350 per teacher in Johnston County public schools,” she added.
Wilson said much the same thing. “Teachers should not have to sacrifice their financial stability to provide the tools that their students need to succeed,” she said. “Providing county teachers with funding designated explicitly for classroom supplies would greatly help alleviate this problem.”
Lawter told the speakers they were lobbying the wrong board. “We do value our teachers; they are hard workers and dedicated to our students in Johnston County,” he said. “However, this board is not the one to be asking for funds for that. The request should be directed to the school board, not to us.”
In Johnston, commissioners annually appropriate dollars to the county’s public schools, but the school board decides how to spend the money.
But Allen Hall of Clayton said commissioners set a precedent for meddling in school spending when they withheld dollars from the schools until the school board adopted a policy against divisive teachings. “You have set the standard, so I know you can make this happen,” he said.
Asking the school board to set aside dollars for supplies would shortchange other school needs, Hall said. “We want the county to supply this to our county teachers, so that’s why this is the board we need to speak to,” he said.
But Lawter was unswayed. “There’s no need to continue on with the same thing when this is not the correct board,” he said.
A man in the audience said, “I disagree.”
“I’m sorry you disagree,” Lawter said.
The board chairman had the support of his fellow commissioners.
“We fund the board of education based on their budget request, whatever they send to us,” Commissioner Tony Braswell said. “And we don’t care whether they’re buying pencils, paper, air conditioners, buses. They are a duly elected board, and they have the right to set their own budget.”