After months of discussions because of a looming $20 million shortfall, the New Hanover Board of Education has approved the district's budget for the upcoming year.
Half of the shortfall was due to COVID-19 relief money running out this year, but other issues have been what board members and staff have said are insufficient allotments from the state, lower student enrollment, and inflation.
District administration announced in February that the "worst-case scenario" could mean 279 positions at stake, which were the equivalent to the dollar amount of the shortfall, but the school board and administration have been working for months to brainstorm ways to save as many positions as possible. One of those ways was requesting additional funding from the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners.
The county, having dealt with their own budgeting disagreements, agreed to increase yearly funding to the school district by $5.5 million, which was added to to the starting budget of $96 million. The county also included an additional $1.95 million to go toward Pre-K funding and $2.1 million to keep the same number of nurses and school mental health counselors available throughout the district.
Reduction through attrition
The $5.5 million from the county will go toward helping the district keep as many positions as possible while also continuing to reduce positions through natural attrition, which is when an employee retires or resigns.
At the school board's June 25 budget work session, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Christopher Barnes said that 156 positions still needed to be reduced in certain departments and attrition rates were not meeting what administration anticipated.
Barnes said that with the flexibility to move people around to other vacant positions, the number could drop down to 120 positions.
An attrition budget will take $2.3 million of the county-provided $5.5 million to continue to pay staff currently in positions and then when attrition happens, the position will be eliminated. This will also make sure that those employees do not have a reduction in salary from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025, even if they are moved to a different position.
About the budget
The budget resolution that the board voted on, Chief Financial Officer Ashley Sutton said, is based on estimates for federal and state funding as well as grants and donations and includes the board's priorities and the $2.3 million attrition budget.
District departments reduced their budgets by the following percentages: Instruction and Academic Accountability 19.6%, operations 13%, student support 15.7%, human resources 15.9%, financial and business 10.4%, technology 9% and communications and outreach 15.8%.
Sutton said technology has had significant reductions over the past two years, which explains why that division's percentage is lower than the others.
Every senior leadership representative submitted their budget for the upcoming year to Superintendent Charles Foust, Sutton said, and every division met with their staff and determined where they could make reductions.
Board chair Pete Wildeboer reminded the board that there can be budget amendments in the future.
Endowment funding
The New Hanover Community Endowment also announced Wednesday night that it would provide $2.9 million in funding to the school district for the next three years, which will total $8.7 million.
The funding will provide the district with 26 literacy facilitators with one at each elementary school and one at each Pre-K. The funding also includes two additional Pre-K teachers and two additional Pre-K teacher assistants.
Board member comments
Wildeboer said he realized that some people would probably not be happy with the decision, whether it be the county commissioners or faculty and staff.
"I'm going to say publicly that my loyalty is with our faculty and staff," he said. "That's where my heart is."
Board member Stephanie Walker addressed accusations from elected officials that the school district misspent money. She said that inflation, matching benefits and raises from the state, less students and private and charter school vouchers have all played a role in the situation that the district has been in.
"It's not as simple as saying 'the school board did this that or the other,'" she said. "The fact is we serve over 24,000 students. Public schools are not going to go away tomorrow and until I think there is a realization in some of our elected bodies, ... we're going to be here again next year and the next year and the next year."
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