COLUMBIA (WACH) -- Camille Stack is a music teacher at Windsor Elementary and next week, she'll no longer be playing solo. Richland District 2 students return to school on Thursday.
“As far as I am concerned, I am going to keep teaching and I will do whatever I can to make learning happen regardless of what our budget is,” said Stack.
Since 2009, Richland 2 has lost $11 million in state funds.
“I hate to see that we have gotten to this point where education is being put on the chopping block,” said Stack.
Despite financial woes, Stack has a job to do, and that is to share her love of music.
“I think at times it can be challenging to keep everyone's morale up,” said Principal Eric Jeffcoat of Windsor Elementary.
Jeffcoat says that his budget is down 10 percent.
“I would like to see our legislators really look to find out how we can better fund education, so we don't have to face cuts in the future,” said Jeffcoat.
According to Jeffcoat, the most visible change at Windsor was the loss of the foreign language program, which is being phased out of the Richland 2’s 17 elementary schools during the next two years.
As for Stack, she considers herself lucky, as the reductions did not include the fine arts.
Until students return, Stack and her fellow teachers will tune up for another school year.
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