In a school district proud of its public education, Union County residents told Republican House Speaker Thom Tillis on Friday that they didn't know how much longer they could do more with less.

More than 50 residents attended the meeting at Cuthbertson High School, where Principal Rob Jackson was recently recognized as the 2011 Wells Fargo North Carolina Principal of the Year.

"I am very, very concerned," said Ed Davis, superintendent of Union County Public Schools. "We have whittled and whittled. We've done everything we can to protect the classroom. We're down to the point where we're going to hit the classroom really hard this year."

Davis said that this year, the school system faced $13.5 million in discretionary budget cuts.

Outside the meeting, liberal advocacy group Progress NC displayed 1,800 bright pink Post-it notes, each representing a teacher or teacher's assistant that was laid off after the state budget cuts.

The figure comes from a report that the Department of Public Instruction released in August.

"We're trying to point out the gaping discrepancy about promises that lawmakers have made about protecting the classroom," said Gerrick Brenner, executive director of Progress NC. "What they've said does not jibe with what's really going on."

Before Friday's meeting, Tillis defended the recently passed education budget, which cut funds by about 5.8 percent.

Tillis said that in the line item for teacher and teacher assistant money, the dollar figure remained the same.

"We gave (the school districts) clear direction that they needed to cut outside of the classroom," he said.

Tillis told residents he is looking for ways to put money back into the school budget. One possibility would be to sell some of the state's assets, including a state hospital valued at $1.2 billion and a railroad valued at $250 million.

"I sure hope all that can be done to help us out next year," Davis told Tillis.

Deputy superintendent of human resources David Clarke asked Tillis about the recently approved school calendar that took away five teacher workdays.

Clarke stressed the importance of staff development. He added that he was concerned about how the new calendar would affect teacher morale.

Tillis deferred the question to Republican N.C. Sen. Tommy Tucker, who was at Friday's meeting.

"It might not have been the right decision," Tucker said. "We could have made a mistake there. It's something we'll take up in the short session."