NCSSM needs your help to fight budget cuts
NCSSM and the UNC system continue to stand at a critical juncture regarding the 2010-2011 budget. The N.C. General Assembly is working quickly on budget planning and negotiations, making it even more important that our state legislators hear from the NCSSM community about the importance of protecting the school from deep budget cuts. As a reminder, NCSSM is currently operating under an 11.5 percent budget reduction, the largest state budget cut of any UNC system school or N.C. public high school. Operating under a disproportionate share of the budget shortfall is not sustainable. We hope you will join the entire NCSSM community in communicating the following to our legislative leaders:
1. Budget cuts beyond the 2 percent reduction planned for the 2010-2011 fiscal year will seriously compromise our ability to fulfill our mission to students across North Carolina, and will most likely result in enrollment reduction in both programs. Such cuts would impact all aspects of operation, including a 10 percent reduction in course titles and sections, fewer teachers and student life staff, less student research, reduced emergency preparedness, and a 33 percent reduction in distance education courses to students in low-wealth, rural public schools statewide.
2. As a public high school, NCSSM charges no tuition or fees. Furthermore, the institution receives no local supplement or significant income from federal grants or sources other than private fundraising. In total, state appropriations account for more than 95 percent of the School’s budget. With no options to offset reductions in state funding, NCSSM is left very vulnerable to budget cuts.
3. NCSSM’s graduates become strong and successful citizens who work hard to improve our communities. Nearly two-thirds of our alumni are employed in science, technology, engineering and mathematics-related fields, becoming the doctors, scientists, educators and entrepreneurs of tomorrow. Now is not the time to reduce investments in education that yield incalculable value to our state and nation.
Such cuts simply cannot be implemented without severely impacting the living and learning environment that makes our young institution an economic engine and force for social good. For more information on the possible effects of these budget cuts,
please see a recent article in the Durham Herald-Sun available here. Thank you, as always, for your ongoing support of NCSSM. You can find a list of key legislative contacts
here.