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GREENSBORO — Who can say no to the pleas of children? At least two local principals hope the Guilford County commissioners can’t.

“I don’t like my hair getting wet when I come to school,” Archer Elementary fifth grader Theresah Woodland said after reading a letter to the commissioners Thursday night during a hearing on the proposed county budget.

Archer’s roof leaked until just a few weeks ago when crews were finally able to repair it using donated materials.

Before that, Woodland and other students had to dodge leaks throughout the school.

That repair is just one of dozens on a list of maintenance issues throughout the school district.

But officials say many of those projects would be delayed if county commissioners approve a proposed $3 million cut to the district’s maintenance fund.

“They’ve heard from us so much,” said Archer principal Patrice Brown. “We wanted them to hear from the affected individuals, the students.”

Archer is scheduled to have a new heating and air-conditioning system installed this year. Much of the funding will come from 2008 bond proceeds but school officials planned to pay for some of the work through the maintenance fund.

Hunter Elementary principal Michelle Thompson presented commissioners with a stack of letters from some of her students. Thompson said the letters tell commissioners about how hot it is during warm months and cold in the winter at the school because of an old boiler system.

“It boils down to, for students to be able to learn, they need an environment to do that. That’s hard to do in a school where we can’t regulate the heat and air,” she said.

Brad Nichols said he is shocked by how hot the computer lab at Hunter is when he picks up his third-grade daughter from the after-school program there.

“It’s miserably hot in there,” he said. “There’s no comfort. It’s either 100 degrees in the room or freezing cold.”

Nichols said commissioners need to find some way of at least maintaining the $7 million for school maintenance they approved last year.

Commissioner Paul Gibson met with the students from Archer during a break. Gibson said he is “cautiously optimistic” commissioners will cut less than the proposed $3 million from the maintenance budget but he doubts there are enough votes to fully fund it.

Gibson said proposed funding for projects like $300,000 for a new YMCA and $1.3 million for unspecified economic development projects should be cut and put toward the school maintenance fund.

The school board approved a tentative budget earlier this month that honors the commissioners’ request for a “hold the line” budget by requesting $175 million plus $7 million in maintenance funding. However, school board members have said if state education funding falls as short as expected — estimated between $12 million to $20 million — they’ll have no choice but to ask the commissioners for more money.

School board member Nancy Routh was in Raleigh this week meeting with lawmakers. She said the trip was “depressing” because the budget outlook is so bleak.

“You can’t balance the budget on the backs of children or there won’t be anything worth saving,” she said.

Contact J. Brian Ewing at 373-7351 or brian.ewing@news-record.com