Person County Board of Education member Ronnie King, a Roxboro lawyer, spoke those words Thursday night shortly before the school board unanimously voted to enter into mediation with the Person Board of County Commissioners in hopes of gaining more funding for the upcoming school year, a move heretofore unprecedented in Person County.

Earlier Thursday, commissioners approved a budget for fiscal 2008-09 that included a 10 percent increase in funding for the schools over the amount allocated for the current year, which ends June 30.

That dollar amount is just over $9.3 million, but over $2 million shy of the amount requested by the school board.

The state law providing for school funding mediation requires that a joint meeting of the school board and commission be held within seven days of the county budget’s adoption. If both parties agree, however, the joint meeting can be held later. In this instance, the seventh day would be Thursday, July 3.

King said he decided to move to enter mediation with the board of commissioners after he studied the “hard true facts of where the county is.”

King added, “I don’t see how we can afford to lay it on the table the way it is right now.”

The board of commissioners was officially notified of the school board’s intentions early Friday afternoon.

King, in explaining the mediation process Thursday night, said the resident Superior Court judge would be asked for mediation and, if approved, the judge would then appoint a mediator, the cost of which would be shared by the school board and board of commissioners. The cost, King said, is approximately $150 per hour.

“The process brings the two boards together along with a neutral third party trained in mediation,” King said.

King said the process would bring the two sides together and hold them together “until [the mediator] sees no progress being made.”

If the initial mediation session fails in finding a suitable solution for the parties involved, King added, a second session, involving department heads and finance officers from each side would take place with the mediator.

Any agreement reached in mediation must be approved by both boards.

“I’ve seen mediations solve a lot of cases,” King added.

A similar situation is currently ongoing in Duplin County. The Wake County Board of Education also has contemplated mediation. >>

Fellow school board member Pecolia Beatty agreed to support mediation, however, she wondered aloud Thursday if the process would work.

“[The commissioners] paid absolutely no attention to those parents,” Beatty said, referencing a large contingent of citizens who addressed the commission during a public hearing on the budget this month. “…They have lost focus on the children and are focusing on us.”

Beatty, along with board Vice Chairman Jimmy Wilkins, said they would support King’s motion, but did not want to venture past mediation into a possible lawsuit. Wilkins led Thursday night’s meeting in the absence of Chairman Gordon Powell, who was out of state at a previously scheduled convention.

Wilkins and Beatty each pointed out that the cost of litigation would strain an already shoestring budget.

“Lots of counties have been in mediation and did not go into litigation,” King said.

Earlier in the meeting, King said, “The budget the county commissioners have allocated the last couple of years has basically taken the stance that they don’t care [about education]. …It really says what education means to this county.”

King said he wanted to enter into mediation because he wanted the county to “prove the money is not there.”

Nelson opined that the current funding being offered the school board by the county was akin to a “1980s budget,” before technology, etc. entered the classrooms.

She added that the school board would “not be living up to our responsibility as board members” if it did not seek mediation and more funds from commissioners.

King went on to say that if the board members settled for the current funding from the commissioners, the schools system would be taking “a step back,” one that “will take four or five years to get back.”

Nelson added that the schools were “finally beginning to see some gain in test scores,” however, the current funding situation would be akin to taking “two steps back.”

“The parents want their children educated,” King said. “If we don’t do something…we have sold out.”

Before agreeing to go along with the mediation motion, Wilkins wondered aloud if the process would work.

“I honestly think [the commissioners’] heels are dug in,” he said.