Jackson County Public Schools wants more than $12 million for improvements to its facilities through 2020, but despite the big number, the requests are pretty basic, Superintendent Mike Murray told commissioners last week.

Alert: A public meeting on the possible closure of Central Elementary School has been moved from Tuesday to Wednesday due to concerns over lingering hazardous road conditions. The new meeting time is 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 27.

The potential closure of an elementary school in Haywood County has become a poster child for those decrying funding cuts faced by traditional public schools.

News that a beloved elementary school might close next year grabbed headlines last week, but shuttering Central Elementary School in Waynesville won’t be enough to make up for the $2.4 million budget shortfall Haywood County Schools is facing next school year.

REPORT: Feasibility study for the closure of Central Elementary by Haywood County Schools

The sudden announcement this week that Central Elementary School in Waynesville could be closed in Haywood County has prompted a swirling litany of questions for both parents and the public at large.

SEE ALSO:
• Parents shocked over Central Elementary closing
• Closing Central Elementary emotional for school officials
• Cuts widespread as Haywood faces $2.4 million shortfall

Parents of Central Elementary School students were shocked Tuesday morning when they heard the Haywood County School Board was considering closing down the longstanding Waynesville institution.

Haywood County School Board members were grave and sober Monday night as they confronted the ominous prospect of closing down one of the county’s nine public elementary schools.

A proposal to close Central Elementary School in Waynesville is only one piece of a sweeping and wide-reaching plan to close a $2.4 million budget shortfall being faced by Haywood County Schools next year, including the elimination of more than 30 staff and teachers.

Since 1940, the Federal Government has provided Impact Aid Funding to assist school districts that have lost a portion of their local tax base because of Federal ownership of property. 

School officials in Jackson County will be crossing their fingers over the next few weeks, hoping to get a low number back from a study looking at the cost of putting artificial turf on the football field of Smoky Mountain High School.

New Smartphone applications are being developed every day, and many of them are helping teenagers keep secrets from their parents.