By Michelle Bliss
Wilmington, NC – The halls of Pender County's alternative school will soon be empty when it shuts down next month due to budget cuts.
Pender Success Academy teaches about 40 middle and high school students who receive the extra academic and behavioral services. Pender County Schools say those students will have to return to their former schools next year, but they will still get those services.
School Board Chair Tom Roper says he's still waiting to hear how much state funding will be cut for next school year.
"We're hearing some ridiculous numbers coming out of the Senate and the House as far as what they think the cuts will be. I wish I could say we really and truly don't know and it's so frustrating because we are literally six weeks from the beginning of a school year and don't have a clue what our budget is going to be."
Roper says he is expecting somewhere between a 5 and 20% cut in state funding and that closing Pender Success Academy will save $800,000 next year.
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