About 120 people, including many teachers, staff and other supporters of the county school division, came out Monday night to speak before the Gloucester Board of Supervisors on the county’s proposed $133 million FY 2015 budget during a public hearing at the Thomas Calhoun Walker Education Center.

While only a handful of people thanked the board for not proposing to raise their taxes next year, most of those who spoke Monday night encouraged the board to do whatever possible to improve the quality of education in Gloucester County Public Schools and improve the compensation for its employees.

The proposed budget does not fund any increase in local funding as requested by the school superintendent. 

One of the first residents to speak was GHS student Dustin Hall, who said he was “in awe” at the relatively small amount of funding the school system receives. He said a science textbook he uses dates back to 1995 and a government book regularly used i...