About 3,700 fewer teachers are at work in the state's public school classrooms this year, and most of the decline is because of budget cuts that sacrificed instructors.
High schools, middle schools and even elementary schools packed classrooms with 35 or more students. Some high schools have eliminated foreign languages, high-level science classes and other electives.
A few months before the state legislature returns to Raleigh to craft the next budget, the impact of the current cuts were made clear in an annual report prepared by the state Department of Public Instruction.
Legislators cut $789 million from the public school budget for this year, which included $225 million in reductions left to local districts to make.
School districts were told to use federal stimulus money earmarked for education to soften the blow of teacher layoffs, and otherwise make decisions about cuts "with the goal of protecting direct classroom services."
Though school districts were able to use federal money to pay the salaries of more than 9,200 teachers this year - up about 3,600 from the last school year - the extra money was not enough to fill holes left by state and local budget cuts. The state has 3,721 fewer teachers this year, though the loss of about 700 can be attributed to 13,000 fewer kindergarten children entering school last fall because of the new age cut-off date.
Wake County high school students have noticed classes bigger than what they're used to, with some hitting 32 to 35 students.
Apex High School Principal Matthew Wight said some classes had to grow and a few courses had to be eliminated. The school no longer offers French or Latin, Wight said. When teachers specializing in those languages left at the end of last year, he could not afford to replace them. Some students decided to drive to another high school for French classes, and some enrolled in online courses.
Advanced Placement courses in biology and physics were dropped because not enough students enrolled to justify those offerings, Wight said.
"In a normal year we can do with 15 [students enrolled]," he said. "In a year when allotment is tight, we had to dissolve it and have the teacher teach something else."
Those moves mirrored budget tightening decisions going on in high schools across the state.
Teachers adapt
The proportion of state funds going to public education dropped to 35 percent, down from 39.4 percent last year and more than 50 percent in 1970, according to the DPI report.
State Board of Education Chairman Bill Harrison fought deep budget cuts, arguing that nearly 90 percent of the state money for schools goes to pay salaries and benefits.
"I think the General Assembly did the best they could by us in light of the budget situation. We would present the case that deeper cuts would really have an adverse impact," Harrison said of the budget negotiations ahead.
Parents knew the bad budget year would bring changes to schools.
But that differs from living with crowded classrooms, said Jane Shutt, parent of a South Mecklenburg High School senior who has two advanced classes of 30 students. Previously, those classes enrolled 20 or 25.
"In AP classes, it's just not good for that higher level of learning," said Shutt, who is the school's PTSA president. "You would like to have that seminar feel to it, have a lot of discussion. When you have 30 to 35, it's only practical to have a lecture."
Less orderly classes
Students notice the larger classes and say they've waited longer for teachers to return corrected quizzes and papers.
Stephen Mercer, a junior at Wake Forest-Rolesville High School, said his sociology class is louder than the norm.
With 33 in the class, he said, "I think it's harder for the teacher to control the kids."
Brandon King and his lab partner sit in the back of their chemistry lab, doing their experiments on regular tables rather than lab benches.
"They just ran out of space," said King, a junior at Wake Forest-Rolesville.
Bigger classes and fewer options are at odds with the state's education goals, said Sheri Strickland, president of the N.C. Association of Educators.
"We're going the wrong way," she said.
