Nearly 50 were on hand Monday " parents, teachers and students " and several told Franklin County educators they don't like budget cuts to the district's literacy program and the Career and Technical Center.
"The single most effective tool for my students has been the literacy program," Collins Lane Elementary School teacher Valerie Smith said to the Board of Education.
"We now have two people to do what six people have done in the past. The situation is dire."
Because the recently passed General Assembly budget made major cuts to supplementary education programs, school districts across the commonwealth have been forced to make tough choices on which programs to keep.
The Career and Technical Center took the biggest hit " $200,000, which included two permanent teaching positions.
More than 30 teaching aides got termination notices, which affects programs like literacy for elementary students.
However, FCPS Communications Coordinator Wayne Dominick said the cuts to teaching aides were largely precautionary and he believes as many as 85 to 90 percent of the employees will eventually be re-hired.
"The majority of them probably will be able to come back," Dominick said.
FCPS Superintendent Harrie Buecker called the circumstances that led to the cuts "a perfect storm."
A downward trend in the national economy and a legislative session that saw drastic cuts in funding for education were the first two waves, Buecker said.
"(The cuts) were made because our hands are behind our backs and we're up against the wall, it's like what do we do?" Buecker said.
The "third wave" came when the district's lawyer informed the board on April 28 that non-renewal notices had to be received by April 30, instead of May 15 as the board originally planned, Buecker said.
Without knowing how much funding the district would receive, they were forced to make cuts, Buecker said.
"Knowing the deficits that we're going to have to make up, we began looking at anyone who was paid from a funding source that we had no control over," Buecker said.
"You can imagine what would've happened if we had not non-renewed those folks and we did not get the funding for it. The district would've gone bankrupt in about the first three weeks of next year, the salaries we'd have to pay with no money coming in."
In the next two weeks the board will meet to discuss the budget for the 2008-09 school year.
"In two weeks we should have a better idea about how many jobs we can bring back," Buecker said.
Buecker and several people that addressed the board pointed to legislators as the reason the district is forced to make the cuts.
"We have been preaching about adequate funding for the K-12 schools in the commonwealth for many, many years, and this has to be about the worst that I've ever seen," Buecker said.
Cuts in other areas include:
>Professional development, continuing education for teachers, will be cut by more than $67,000.
>Extended School Services, which provides assistance to students that have fallen behind, will be cut by nearly $100,000.
>Textbook funds will be reduced by nearly $80,000.
>Center for School Safety funding will be reduced by $30,000.