The Wake County Public Schools (WCPSS) Board wants MOAR MONEY.  I bet you’re all shocked by that one.

Nice of Superintendent Jim Merrill to take a powder and dump this flaming bag of poo onto interim Superintendent Del Burns – who by the way seems just fine with it.

The tweet above is actually a bit of a thread/rant.  Here are just a few in that thread, but go read all of them.

Included in that thread is a reminder about this potential increase being potentially the FIFTH tax hike on Wake County residents.

Some other friendly WCPSS Budget reminders:

• Despite Budget Shortfall, WCPSS Board Fills Tech Chief Position at $139K a Year
• Wake Supt. Email: Cuts to Teacher, Student Budget Items but 3% Increases to ‘Support Staff’
• Report: Wake County Schools Cutting Bus Routes Again
• WCPSS Board Justifies Cuts Effecting Classrooms While Making Multi-Million Land Purchase
• WCPSS Democrat Controlled Board Wants Another Bond

The WCPSS Board had a $1.4 BILLION budget on the table the last go-round.  Yet they need MOAR MONEY. Again.

Not a single person who spoke during the public comments portion of the meeting dealing with that $1.4 billion budget opposed it nor did any of the speakers ask for a full accounting of the current budget and expenditures.  I have asked multiple times and have yet to receive a single spreadsheet from WCPSS.

More from the News and Observer: School leaders want ‘stunning’ $58.9 million increase from Wake County taxpayers this year.

Emphasis added:

Wake County taxpayers could face their fifth consecutive year of property tax hikes if school leaders get their way for a record $58.9 million increase in local funding this year.

On Tuesday, Wake County schools interim Superintendent Del Burns said the district needs a 14 percent increase in local funding to maintain current service levels and to add counselors, social workers and psychologists. He said the extra money is needed from the Wake County Board of Commissioners because the district is at a “financial crossroads.”

“Should the budget needs identified here not be funded, the district will survive,” Burns told school board members. “But the Wake County Public School System I have known for more than four decades is not about surviving. It has never been enough to just carry on.

Burns’ $1.7 billion proposed operating budget for the 2018-19 school year — which includes a request of $489.8 million from the county — now goes to the school board for review. Budget information can be found at http://www.wcpss.net/budget.

[…]

The previous record increase from the county was $44.6 million given in 2015.

School board members acknowledged it won’t be easy persuading commissioners to provide $58.9 million.

“There is no doubt a number like that sitting on a piece of paper is absolutely stunning to anyone who reads it, including those of us who know what the needs are,” school board Chairwoman Monika Johnson-Hostler said in an interview.

Understatement of the year, Ms. Johnson-Hostler. This is isn’t just stunning, it’s absolutely ABSURD.

Please enlighten us, Ms. Johnson-Hostler, with a complete list of the wasteful spending this district has engaged in over the last 5 years – including a detailed list of the costs of your administrative staff bloat and the various layers of social justice bullcrap that have been inserted into WCPSS.

Meanwhile, this board has been buying up land and building new schools while our youngest and most vulnerable students are sitting ducks in run-down, old trailer farms behind nearly every single school in the district.

All that wasteful spending, but WCPSS is basically saying ‘won’t you give us nearly $59 million more dollars so we can add more head shrinkers to analyze your kids and make up for the fact that we blew off legislation from four years ago telling us to start reducing class sizes?’

Wake County Commissioner John Burns said that “All I’ve seen is a top-line number. I’ll wait for the school board to weigh in through their process and then the [county] manager to propose his budget. But that’s a great big number. Timed well, I’ll add.”

Oh, and I am sure they will “add” since that’s what the Moral Monday Four were elected to do, right?

FLASHBACK:

• New Dem Wake County Commissioners Already Reaching For Your Wallet
• Gird Your Wallet: Wake County Commissioner Races 2014