Randolph County School leaders ask state legislators for help on transportation, technology and principal pay

Superintendent (title shown in meeting record) told four state legislators and county commissioners that the Randolph County School System faces multiple budget pressures that threaten classroom positions and services.

At a January briefing for state legislators and local officials, the superintendent laid out the system’s top concerns — technology funding, special-education and contract service costs, transportation funding, career-and-technical-education staffing, and the state principal salary schedule — and asked legislators to consider fixes in the 2025 budget process.

The superintendent said transportation is “a huge” recurring cost for the district and gave several figures to illustrate the strain: “We spend $16,000 per day on transportation before we pay the first salary for anybody’s transportation,” and “we buy 7,400 gallons of diesel gas every 3 days.” He warned that contract transportation for students in foster care, homeless students and other special circumstances is driving deficits and that the state’s transportation funding formula “works for more urban areas” but not for a geographically large rural county like Randolph.

Marty Trotter, Randolph County School System finance officer, and other staff joined the superintendent in describing rising contract-service spending for therapies and related services. The superintendent said contract services…