Local organizers expressed relief Thursday that Governor's School will return this summer for its 50th year.
Lucy Milner, the director of the Salem College program, said that students across North Carolina are going through the nominating process to be selected to attend the summer program for gifted high-school students.
"Many of these students who have lived under the shadow of the school being lost will be relieved," Milner said. "We are joyful and very deeply impressed and grateful."
The state Board of Education on Thursday authorized the state's public school agency to decide the scope of this summer's North Carolina Governor's School based on funds raised by next Friday.
"We realize this is for this summer only and we hope the General Assembly will reconsider and provide the funds for the Governor's School," state school board chairman Bill Harrison said.
Slightly more than $500,000 has been collected so far, and Harrison said he expects a foundation or two to add another $200,000 within days.
To stay afloat, the Governor's School Foundation must raise $850,000 to $1.3 million each year, a foundation spokesman said last year. The school offers selected high school students a few weeks together working on language, math, music, science and other subjects.
State schools Chief Financial Officer Philip Price said that the money raised would provide five weeks on two college campuses – Salem College and Meredith College in Raleigh for 500 students at each campus.
That is scaled back from last year's six-week summer camp for 600 students at each college.
In 2011, legislators eliminated the program's $849,000 annual funding because of the state's $2.5 billion shortfall.
The state school board will ask state lawmakers to restore the state funding for 2013.
"We are halfway there," said David Winslow of Winston-Salem, a fundraiser and a 1970 alumnus of Governor's School at Salem College. "Our real victory will be the reinstatement of the funding by the General Assembly. We are going to keep our eyes on the prize."
Winslow said he hopes that the General Assembly will come through. "We can't raise money like this year after year," he said. "It's just not in the cards."
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