Teaching assistants left out of Pender budget

There will be some noticeable absences when Pender County Schools start up next week.

The school district does not yet have a finalized budget, but School Board Chair Tom Roper said TAs currently are not budgeted for.

Eleven teaching assistants will not be reporting for the first day of school. Including benefits, each is a roughly $40,000 a year position.

Roper said they will know more about the budget by the end of the week. There’s a special budget meeting at 2:30pm Friday at Topsail High School. It is open to the public.