DOBSON — The Surry County Board of Education has adopted a resolution urging Congress to stop the across-the-board cuts that would have a detrimental impact on the school district. The action was taken because federal education programs face more than an 8 percent budget cut next year unless the U.S. Congress intervenes.

Information supplied by Surry County School’s Superintendent Dr. Ashley Hinson and Chairman Earlie Coe indicates cuts to programs benefiting the county school district would occur under a process called sequestration, which is defined as the cancellation of budgetary resources. This was enacted under the Budget Control Act of 2011.

Officials indicated the county district could be hit with a budget cut of 8.2 percent in federal funding. Typically, such a shortfall could mean larger class sizes, fewer course offerings, less access to intervention programs, summer school and and after school programs, less extracurricular activities and teacher and staff layoffs including the loss of reading teachers and teaching assistants.

The resolution adopted by the board urges Congress and the Administration to amend the budget control act in a way to minimize the cuts to education “that would affect our students and communities and to protect education as an investment critical to economic stability and American competitiveness.”

According to Hinson and Coe, bipartisan negotiations are underway in Congress to develop an alternative to sequestration. The Surry County Board of Education’s resolution indicates the community’s awareness of the issue and is being forwarded to members of Congress to urge their support for finding an alternative.