COMMUNITY SOLIDARITY PETITION: No Cuts, Just Commitment!

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COMMUNITY SOLIDARITY PETITION: No Cuts, Just Commitment!

Buncombe County Commissioners

Community Members: Sign the petition today and tell the Buncombe County Commission: Fund Our Schools NOW!

Note: THIS ONLINE SOLIDARITY PETITION IS FOR OUR NON-SCHOOL STAFF ALLIES ONLY.

If you are an employee of Asheville City Schools or Buncombe County Schools, we need your voice, too. Sign the petition at your worksite or request for a petition to be delivered to your worksite on the following form: https://bit.ly/Request2025Petition

On January 21st, with only 5 days' notice, the Buncombe County Commission voted to claw back $4.7 million from the budgets of Asheville City Schools and Buncombe County. This devastating decision is deeply frustrating, as these cuts will have immediate and painful impacts on our students, educators, and the communities we serve.

Superintendents Dr. Rob Jackson and Dr. Maggie Fehrman have made it clear: our schools are dipping into emergency savings to cover this shortfall for now, but this is not sustainable. Without urgent action and the prompt restoration of funds, we face staffing cuts, loss of vital programming, and reductions in student support services as early as August unless you and I act NOW.

We demand that the Buncombe County Commission:

✅ Fully fund ACS and BCS in 2025-2026 at pre-hurricane levels to prevent any further cuts to staff, positions, programming, or essential student services.

✅ Reimburse ACS and BCS for the $4.7 million in cuts sustained in 2024-2025 by the end of the fiscal year.
✅ Restore the Asheville City Schools tax from 10.62¢ to 12¢/$100 of assessed property value

Our kids can’t afford these cuts. Our educators can’t afford these cuts. Our community can’t afford these cuts. We need your voice, as a community member, to demand action!

Petition by

Asheville City Association of Educators & Buncombe County Association of Educators

Sponsored by

North Carolina Association of Educators

Raleigh, NC

To: Buncombe County Commissioners
From: [Your Name]

We call upon the Buncombe County Commissioners to:

Fund ACS and BCS at a level that ensures that no pre-hurricane staff, positions, compensation, programming, or services are cut in 2025-2026, and similarly maintain pre-hurricane funding for essential student-facing services like school nurses and school-based therapists currently supported by other parts of the county budget.

Reimburse ACS and BCS for the $4.7 million in combined cuts sustained in 2024-2025 by the end of Fiscal Year 2025.

Restore the Asheville City Schools tax from 10.62¢ to 12¢/$100 of assessed property value

We, the undersigned, also call upon the ACS and BCS Boards of Education to request such a budget and support the board in such a request.