After nine community members spoke during the budget hearing meeting, the Alamance-Burlington School System Board of Education unanimously passed the 2025-26 budget asking for a $5.7 million expansion from this year’s budget — totaling to $59,047,151. The budget will now have to pass through the Alamance County Commissioners.

Before the budget hearing began, close to 15 community members, mainly a part of the Alamance-Burlington Association of Educators, gathered in the parking lot sharing their own experiences of what brought them to speak out at the meeting. The ABAE had two points they were focusing on: raising the pay for classified workers and restoring key positions cut in last year’s budget — two pieces that are included in the new budget.

Employees who require a teaching license or certification are considered certified staff members — such as teachers and counselors — and classified staff members do not — such as custodians, bus drivers and administrative assistants.

Robert Alvis, president of the ABAE, said the group came to illustrate to share their own personal experiences and illustrate how much the budget affects.



Stuart Ringwalt, prior to the reduction in force put in place last budget period, was a media center coordinator at Walter Williams High School. But, after finding out he would now be responsible for the same role across two separate schools, he opted to switch roles to something that would place him only at one school. The reduction in force was put in place to cut down on costs after mold was found in 32 out of 36 schools in ABSS — leading to an immediate cost of $25.8 million on mold remediation. He said the effects of the reduction in staff can be felt across his school. 

“We've lost the library portion of the school and a lot of the resources that are available to teachers,” Ringwalt said. 

Paige Ysteboe, media coordinator for both Western Alamance Middle School and high school, said she was begging the school board to reinstate librarians in each school. Ysteboe has worked as a librarian for 35 years and said four years ago she went to the board to ask for help. The new amount of technology she was now responsible for on top of new challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic had made her job increasingly difficult, she said.

“I stood before this board in 2021 and told you it was too much that we could not effectively do our jobs without more help on the technology end,” Ysteboe said. “When we were told that half of the middle and high school positions were being cut — I was flabbergasted.”

Regenia Richardson, a math teacher at Williams High School, said one of her students arrives 30 minutes late to school every day — due to a shortage of bus drivers in the county, causing certain bus drivers to have to do multiple routes, making certain students consistently late. Richardson said this student misses her welcoming the students to school, her explaining what they will be learning and the beginning of the lesson.

“Imagine the student coming in after all this has transpired, sitting in a seat 35 minutes late, lost,” Richardson said. “Imagine this happening every day for over two months so far, and the student's angry at the teacher because he wants to learn.”

Sandy Ellington-Graves, ABSS Board of Education chair, said she wants the students to remain the first priority and for the Alamance County community to remember the stories that community members shared. 

“It's hard to put a dollar sign on a child, and sometimes we focus so much on the dollars and cents in it, and we have to, but I look at it as their investments in our students, and I don't ever want us to forget those faces behind those dollars,” Ellington-Graves said. 


Board vacancy

Sixteen community members, including three Elon faculty members, applied for a spot on the board of education, after the board opened applications for the newly vacant position. Evan Sprinkle, dean of undergraduate admissions; Evan Small, professor in wellness; and Eric Hall, assistant provost for scholarship and creative activity, all applied. Ricky Hurtado, former state house representative, also applied. Chuck Marsh, former board member, stepped down from his role on Feb. 24, leaving an open seat. 

The board decided that all 16 applicants would be given the opportunity to speak for three minutes each on why they applied for the role at the April 28 board meeting. The board then may vote at that meeting on who should fill the vacancy or wait until the following work session meeting. The new board member will be sworn in at the May 27 board meeting. 

The next meeting will be held at 12:30 p.m. April 8 at 1712 Vaughn Road, Burlington.