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Bladen County Schools seeks $9.2 million in county support, cites staffing, safety and facility needs
Summary
School leaders presented a $9,197,343.58 budget request and outlined needs including teacher recruitment, additional teacher assistants, school safety upgrades, facility repairs and capital projects such as multiuse additions and track/field improvements.
School district leaders presented the Bladen County Schools budget proposal to county commissioners, asking for $9,197,343.58 in funding with a net increase of approximately $1.1 million over the prior year. The district identified personnel costs, safety upgrades and capital repairs as top priorities.
The superintendent (recorded on the transcript without a full personal name) told commissioners that 10 of 12 schools met or exceeded growth in the most recent accountability year and that more than 90 percent of students live in the county. The presentation said the district is the county's third-largest employer and cited statewide funding uncertainty, including pending teacher compensation changes and limits on drawing indirect costs from child nutrition programs.
Key operational and capital requests listed in the district's submission include: - Recruitment and retention: a proposed recruitment-bonus match and a "Grow Your Own" program to sponsor up to 10 non-certified staff to return to college; the district identified about $30,000 in a federal line it could use as part of a tuition-match program with local universities. - Staffing: proposals to add teacher assistants (including one additional TA per second-grade team at each school) and to preserve assistant principal positions the state formula underfunds. - Safety and SROs: the district said it currently has about six permanent school resource officers and estimated it would need 12 to be fully staffed; the district noted local sheriff's staffing challenges affect the ability to expand SRO coverage. - Facilities and capital: requests include multiuse building classroom wings (two per year for three years), field-house projects (about $1.5 million each for two buildings listed on the district's five-year plan), track resurfacing or a single upgraded community track, HVAC improvements in two gymnasiums, parking-lot and driveway repairs, and remediation work in the Bladenboro Middle School auditorium due to moisture and air-quality concerns. - Transportation and equipment: the district said it has not purchased activity buses since 2006 and described high mileage on the fleet; it also proposed mobile restroom/concession units to address field and stadium layout problems without new construction.
The district requested continued commissioner support for school safety and noted the impact of state policy changes (including potential voucher proposals and changes to charter accountability) on district finances and staffing. District leaders asked the county to consider capital needs grants and potential partnerships for projects such as a community track.
Commissioners and district staff discussed redistricting as a tool to relieve overcrowding at specific schools, the timing of state capital grant opportunities, and the need to align any facility projects with available county resources. The district said it will reapply for needs-based capital funds and noted some previously submitted applications were not approved.
The board did not take final county funding action at the meeting; commissioners scheduled follow-up budget work sessions to consider the item.
