Craven County Board votes down 2025–26 local expense and capital outlay budgets after fund-balance debate

At a special called meeting of the Craven County Board of Education (date not specified), the board voted against approving the proposed 2025–26 local current expense budget and capital outlay budget after extended debate about using the district fund balance, staffing decisions and the size of the county appropriation request.

The vote followed discussion of a budget that would rely on a $5.5 million appropriation from the district’s fund balance to balance the year and would ask the Craven County commissioners for an increase in local funding. Board members and staff debated cuts to noninstructional positions, the restoration of nurses and social workers to the local budget, and how declining average daily membership (ADM) is affecting state allotments.

Why it matters: the proposed budget would preserve a nurse in every school, school social workers, guidance counselors, school psychologists, assistant principals and school resource officers while also drawing down reserves. Several board members said continued reliance on the fund balance is unsustainable and urged deeper cuts or larger county support; others argued the plan preserves classroom resources.

Budget specifics discussed at the meeting included a county appropriation increase requested in the current presentation (described by staff as $2.2 million in one slide and later framed as a roughly 10% request to the county), a fund-balance appropriation of $5.5 million to balance the budget (down from a $9.3 million fund-balance appropriation the year prior), and a projected further drawdown that some board members said could leave the fund balance below $5 million by the end of the next fiscal year. Board staff also noted a continuing decline in ADM (reported in the presentation as about a 4.5% decline).

Staff described changes intended to hold core student-facing services in place: nurses and social workers were restored to the local budget, and the district reported 17 Craven County Schools nurses on staff and seven contract nurses under a reduced contract; "So currently, we have, 17 Craven county school nurses," said Nurse Mac, identified in the meeting as a Craven County Schools nurse. Staff said converting some contract nurses into district positions produced year-to-date savings they estimated at about $210,000 compared with contract rates.

Staff also summarized cuts and reallocations: reduced vehicle maintenance and facility-support line items, a 50% reduction of some district athletic field support funding (from $50,000 to $25,000), and elimination or reduction of certain noninstructional support positions (data managers, clerical support and technology specialists) to achieve roughly $1.5 million in overall budget reductions in the local expense budget. Capital requests highlighted included about $1.05 million listed as working capital and a $1.1 million device lease with Apple (together described as about $2.1 million), plus a late-added breaker replacement at "Grandmaier Barn." The athletic trainer contract remained in the budget at roughly $226,000, retained as a contingency while the district tries to move athletic-training responsibilities to schools.

Board members pressed staff for clarity about how positions would be funded. The presentation and subsequent exchanges said 55–71 "enhancement" teacher positions were needed districtwide but the state allotment supported far fewer; staff said 55 of those enhancement positions are covered by state allotment money, 16 by school-held Title I or Restart funds, and one would come from an unallocated allotment. Staff also said they expected to have about 6.5 unallotted positions available to manage anticipated enrollment shifts.

Several board members criticized the plan to rely on reserves rather than deeper cuts or securing more county support. One board member said the district is proposing to spend more than it will receive from federal, state and local sources and that the difference would be made up by drawing on fund balance. Other members expressed concern about central-office staffing remaining intact while cuts fall at school level.

Action and next steps: Board member Mr. Kirkman moved to approve the local current expense and capital outlay budgets as presented; Ms. Mason seconded. The motion failed on roll call. The chair asked staff to present the request to the Craven County commissioners at a meeting scheduled Friday morning at 8:30 a.m., where the board planned to request roughly a 10% (about $2.3 million) increase in local funding for the year.

The board did not adopt the budgets and adjourned the special meeting without approving the 2025–26 local current expense or capital outlay budgets.

Ending: The district will present the budget request to county commissioners in the coming days while staff continue to identify cost‑containment measures; board members signaled further debate and likely additional budget decisions in coming meetings.