A second candidate has announced her intent to run for the District 2 post on the Forsyth County Board of Education.

Republican Kristin Morrissey said her decision to join the race stemmed from the state’s budget cuts.

“I moved here personally for the quality of schools," she said. "And given the budget crisis, I did not want to see the schools go downhill.

"I’d like to get involved and make sure the schools stay as good as they are, if not better.”

Earlier this month, Republican Larry Duckworth announced he would seek the District 2 seat, which represents most of south Forsyth.

Incumbent Mike Dudgeon is running for the state House District 24 post.

Morrissey and her husband of 21 years, Joe, moved to Forsyth from Rochester, N.Y., in 2004. Their daughters, Mackenzie, 12, and Sydney, 6, are enrolled in the county’s schools.

“I have a kindergartener, so I’ve got a long way to go with the school system in Forsyth County,” she said. “My family’s moved twice to get to better quality schools, lower taxes and to be in an area where the economy’s not only surviving but thriving, and I don’t want to move again. I’m here for the long haul.”

Morrissey has been involved in several local groups, including Forsyth County Community Connection, parent-teacher associations and the county’s library board.

A 16-year employee of the Rochester public library system, Morrissey is midway through a four-year term on Forsyth’s library board. But Morrissey made sure she could continue to serve on the panel if elected to the school board.

“That was a very important factor for me,” she said. “I bring to the library board my expertise and technology and my background in libraries, so I really did not want to give that up.

“I truly believe there’s a huge connection between children reading and using libraries and their education.”

Morrissey said she’s going to focus her campaign on meeting residents to “find out if the concerns that I have are the same concerns that they have."

“I’m hoping to spend as much time as I can with different people and different communities to hear what their hopes and desires and concerns are for the next several years," she said.