Forsyth County Commission hopefuls talk schools, spending and public trust at forum 

While most students at RJ Reynolds High School aren’t old enough to vote, they still want to know what’s going on as the nation hurtles toward Election Day at breakneck speed.

On Oct. 1, students, parents and teachers sat together in the school’s auditorium to hear from candidates running for a seat on Forsyth County’s Board of Commissioners. Cristofer Wiley teaches the school’s AP Politics and Government class; his students organized and moderated the event, giving candidates five questions each in advance and 90 seconds to respond. This year, the commission allotted more than $170 million of its $580 million annual budget to Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools.

Who are they? Why are they running?

Helen Wilson, an 11^th grader at Reynolds, introduced the candidates to the audience and asked them what their “why” for running was.

For Valerie Brockenbrough, a Democrat, it’s public education, the “biggest responsibility of the board.” Brockenbrough, with a daughter still attending public school, also believes that the county needs a more diverse board “with residents of different backgrounds, age and race.” She wants to see more funding going toward school facility needs, saying, “When we invest in our schools, we invest in the future. If we keep deferring maintenance and the building of new schools it will ultimately cost more.”

Curtis Fentress, a Democrat, said he’s running because the county needs a “new generation of leadership to help our community thrive.” Fentress is a Winston-Salem native and Ecolab Inc.’s marketing director. “We need a strong, safe public school system that serves as a foundation for success for all our kids,” he said.

Richard Linville, an incumbent Republican who has been on the board since 1980, remarked that he’d be “talking about a number of things, not only schools.”

“They’ve implied that that’s the only thing we needed to speak about,” he said, listing other services the county provides such as public health and emergency services, making note of how “very good” and “important” they were. Linville did not answer Wilson’s question of why he was seeking another term in office during his nearly three minute response.

Marsie West, a Democrat, is running because she believes that it is “time for a change.” West previously served on the Board of Selectmen in Reading, Mass., and was the vice president of Wachovia Bank in the early 1990s.

“My key priorities are public schools, affordable housing and public safety. We need those three things so that we can grow the economy here,” she said.

Incumbent Republican Gloria Whisenhunt has been on the board since 1996, but still has some unfinished business, she said.

“I’m running again mainly because of some projects that I have started,” she said, projects related to the opioid crisis, incarceration and schools.

Gray Wilson, an incumbent Republican, has been in office since mid-July. He was defeated in the primary election by Linville, Whisenhunt and Dave Plyler. However, when Plyler stepped down citing health issues, Wilson was chosen to finish the remainder of his term and will be on the ballot with his fellow commissioners in November. An attorney by trade, Wilson’s “why” came in the form of how he got involved in county government — advocating for the new courthouse for the last several years.

What makes them someone who deserves the public’s trust?

Eleventh grader Nylah Lee asked candidates what makes them someone who deserves the public’s trust for taking care of “our ‘common good?’”

“One thing I learned by the time the primary was over…was why good people do not want to run for public office,” Wilson said. “It’s a time of trial in which there is a good bit of contention and—” Wilson paused. “Rage.” Wilson also said that his military and legal experience taught him a lot.

Linvillle cited his years in office and said that he tries to “do the right thing.”

“The right thing is not defined just exactly like the dictionary says it is,” he said, adding, “What is right in my mind…others may have a different view of it.”

West also brought her 12 years of experience in local government to the table for this question. She says she “spearheaded” brainstorming sessions with the community when she was in office.

“It’s very important, I believe, to reach out to all of the constituents,” she said.

Brockenbrough cited a love for her community; she’s been active in schools as a PTA president and creator of Community For Public Schools, a group that supports WSFCS and brought breakfast and lunch to three schools during the 23/24 school year.

With the vice presidential debate on the horizon later that night, Fentress professed that the divisiveness between those two camps, any name-calling or arguing, wouldn’t be seen “amongst these six candidates” or the three who will be elected.

“Where we may disagree on policy, we will all keep the public trust. We’ve got some fine public servants serving in office right now,” Fentress added.

Still, he hopes “to bring a new generation of leadership into Forsyth County.”

Whisenhunt said that her time in office has been one of the “most rewarding things” she’s ever done. “I spend a great deal of time because I owe you that,” she said.

What are candidates’ spending priorities?

The county is in charge of managing services such as the sheriff’s office, emergency services, planning and development, health and human services, and yes, schools. 

How do they pay for it all? 

Property and sales taxes. 

This year’s budget maintained last year’s 67.78 cent property tax rate, despite teachers’ request for $20 million to be added to the school budget to bump up teacher salaries.

11^th grader Finley Reynolds asked candidates what their demonstrated priorities for the county’s next annual budget would be. “What would you change in terms of both expenditures and revenue for the county as we look ahead to next year’s budget?” Reynolds asked.

Linville responded by saying that public schools have been a big priority for the board, and talked about sales tax and how that can affect the county’s budget.

West said she’d like more transparency about the budget. 

“I think that there’s an opportunity for that process to change, which would help to drive the decision making, so it would make it easier to see what are the high level things that we’re spending money on and then drill down to those lower levels.”

Wilson agreed with West.

“Understanding the county budget is an extreme learning curve,” he said. In the wake of gun violence in schools, having better school security would be a priority for him as well. “If children aren’t safe in the schools, then nothing else really matters. I think we need to focus on that as well as quality education.”

Brockenbrough cited concerns voiced by residents in a recent survey, particularly regarding education and emergency services, as what would drive her priorities in office.

In NC, teachers are paid on a state salary schedule, but can have their pay supplemented by the local school system. “We need to stay in our lane; each arm of government is mandated to provide certain services,” Whisehunt remarked. “Please don’t ever expect us to have to pay all of teachers’ pay because we cannot, we have so many other services.”

Fentress agreed with other candidates’ priorities. But, he added, “we need to think broader about how we solve the problem of infinite need and finite resources. We have to grow revenues in the county, and by that I don’t mean the rate of taxation but the number of taxpayers,” adding that they need a “comprehensive strategy” to attract more people to visit and live in Forsyth County. “That’s what’s really going to grow the tax base.”

None of the candidates expressed support for school vouchers.

“It is as if we were to say to the citizens of Forsyth County, ‘Well, if you don’t like Hanes Park, we’re gonna give you a coupon that’s a discount to go to Disney World. It’s literally the same as doing that,” Fentress said.

On making difficult decisions

Student Helen Wilson returned to the podium to ask candidates about difficult decisions they anticipate encountering if elected, and how they would address them: “Even though taxes are unpopular, would you say that tax increases are on the table when making these decisions?” 

West said that people should consider that they may be giving up services by not increasing taxes.

“We need to make sure that we’re following the lead of what our county manager says they need, what our board of education says they need, what our sheriff says they need,” she said. “That goes into those factors in terms of figuring out how you’re going to spend the money.”

Whisenhunt talked about the process of building a budget and the conversations between elected officials and staff, such as the county manager, when creating it. 

“This year, after the recommendation was made for the school system, they came back and asked for $20 million more,” she said. “There’s just no way we could do that.”

When it comes to raising taxes, Whisenhunt hesitated. “I have to think about all our citizens, I have to think about our elderly and how it will affect their budgets, so it’s a very difficult decision.” While Linville has voted for some tax increases, he’s not big on raising taxes either.

One of Fentress’s solutions to raise revenues would be to market Forsyth County as a good place to live and visit, “to potential customers.”

“When we do that, we’ll have an easier time supporting all those areas,” he said, also expressing interest in changing the board’s weekly meeting time of 2 p.m. 

“It’s not a great meeting time to solicit community input.”

Wilson responded, “I think the question was whether or not we would raise taxes to try to address some of the shortfalls that we all would like to see improve. I would say be very afraid of people who think that the perfect solution for any socioeconomic issue is to throw money at it.” But Wilson seemed to agree with Fentress on encouraging area growth.

“Based on 45 years of living in this community, I’ve seen Winston-Salem hemorrhage good business and we need to turn that around,” he said. “If you want affordable housing, get businesses in here to provide affordable jobs so people can pay for them.”

On supporting schools

Reynolds asked, “How would you respond to parents, educators and students who don’t feel like much of a priority when it comes to things like support staff, teacher pay and technology?”

Brockenbrough said that state legislators have “underfunded our public schools for too many years.” West agreed that they need to “apply pressure” and Fentress argued that it is a “moral imperative” to pay teachers a liveable wage, adding, “We do need to advocate at the state level in a much more forceful way than we have ever done.”

“There’s no secret that the state’s robbing Peter to pay Paul here. We have this proliferation of educational facilities,” said Wilson, listing charter, public, private schools etc. “I don’t have a problem with who goes to what school, but I think it needs to be a level playing field.”

“What the state’s doing…It’s not fair, and fair should be part of the equation,” he added.

Whisenhunt’s response was a bit less pointed. 

“I cannot help what the state does,” she said. “We meet with our legislators every year…I can lobby for it, but I cannot make them do it.”

Her next statement took a more argumentative tone. There are “many things that you all have no idea the county does for you,” she said. “We have to provide services for everybody. If you’re having a heart attack tonight, I think you want that ambulance to get there and you’re not going to be worried about school funding. That’s what I have to worry about.”

What did the students think?

After the forum, students Ian Mullins, Jamal Robertson and John Greenwood shared their thoughts with TCB.

Robertson said that he felt “inspired” after the forum, and is excited to register to vote. 

“Some of these candidates I supported more than others,” said Robertson.

Mullins agreed, particularly regarding Brockenbrough. “I was very convinced that she cared about the public education system,” Mullins said.

Greenwood leaned toward supporting candidates who gave “more precision when they answer.” 

“I felt like a lot of the answers were not precise and they beat around the bush, like, a lot,” Greenwood added.

Scott Andree Bowen is a Winston-Salem city council candidate for the Southwest Ward; he faces no opposition in the general election. His son Ollie said that he was “very interested” in hearing candidates’ answers. He “takes after” his dad, he said. 

In an interview with TCB, parent Claudia Campos said that she appreciated that the candidates were “willing to engage with the community and with students.” Her son Matias is in 10^th grade.

While Campos noted that the “majority of [candidates] answered the questions,” she added that she noticed that a “couple deflected a lot of the questions.”

And the challengers, Fentress, Brockenbrough and West, seemed “more willing to be more forceful about spending in schools.”

“It sounds like the newer candidates are more willing to do that, as compared to the ones that have been there. It sounds like they have given up,” Campos said.

Early voting starts on Oct. 17. Election Day is Nov. 5. Learn more at ncsbe.gov/voting.