The money the Guilford County Board of Commissioners spends on education each year is about half of the county’s entire $600 million-plus budget – so you better believe the commissioners want to know where that money is going. 

To help answer some of those questions, and to decide how much the county will give Guilford County Schools this year, the Board of Commissioners has scheduled a special work session for Thursday, June 3 at 4 p.m.

The meeting will be held in the McAdoo Conference Room on the 3rd Floor of the county-owned BB&T Building at 201 W. Market St. in downtown Greensboro – but there’s no need for the public to know that location because the public isn’t invited. 

Anyone, however, can view the proceedings virtually.

The commissioners have been allowing a limited number of people to attend their regular meetings, however, the work sessions, which are held in small venues, are still limited to media, commissioners and presenters.  The meeting announcement put out by the county states in caps, “THE MEETING ROOM WILL NOT BE OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.”

The official purpose of the work session is “to receive an update on Guilford County Schools’ FY 2021-22 proposed budget request.” 

The commissioners will no doubt have a lot of questions for school officials.

Given the timing of the meeting – right after a giant security breach at Southern Guilford High School that led to an attack on a 14-year-old student – the commissioners may have some questions about the incident.  School security issues are budget issues: The safety measures that school officials want to implement cost money.  

A good number of commissioners have been publicly critical in recent years of the slow speed at which the schools spent $10 million that the commissioners approved back in 2018 to increase school security.  And school system leaders want more money in the coming budget to increase that security.

Those interested can watch to the meeting by through Zoom using a computer, tablet or smartphone at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81598517737, and if required, entering meeting ID 815 9851 7737 when prompted.

Copies of the work session agenda will be available for review prior to the start of the meeting at https://guilford.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx.   However, the county doesn’t usually post those agendas online until very near the time of the meeting.