To the Editor:

Friday’s headlines included a very interesting article (“Fighting the deficit,” Feb. 25).

Why shouldn’t the Southampton County School Board be able to fight a reported $1.27 million deficit when the Southampton County Board of Supervisors has just so graciously returned $2.4 million to the School Board?

If I am doing my calculations correctly, the Southampton County School Board was cut $3.5 million in fiscal year 2009 and saved enough money to give the Southampton County Board of Supervisors back $2.4 million of unspent funds.

So if the School Board is cut $3.5 million and can still save enough to be able to carry out its programs, why does the county Board of Supervisors keep giving the School Board money it does not need for the operation of the schools.

If the School Board can save money, maybe it needs to educate the Board of Supervisors.

Why is this surplus money not applied to the $71 million debt the county owes?

The taxpayers are glad to hear that School Board Chairman Russell Schools and Superintendent Charles Turner have been saving money. This is certainly a different story than was presented last year at budget time.

Surely the School Board will not be asking for additional funds since it has been saving for three years. No pun intended.

Linda N. Vick
Newsoms