Teachers and parents decry midyear arts stipend cuts and capped master's pay; district says calculation error led to revisions

Public commenters at the Nov. 3 Chatham County Board of Education meeting pressed the district to restore midyear cuts to arts stipends and to honor promises of locally funded master's pay, saying the reductions threaten teacher retention and student programs.

"I'm here as an advocate and in good faith to repair what many of us seem to think is a broken relationship between our senior leaders and our arts educators," said Dr. Zach Wills, an arts educator who urged "a transparent accounting of our financial situation" after stipend changes were implemented midyear.

Parents and teachers described the effects in personal terms. Michelle Steck, a parent and Northwood Band Boosters vice president, said band parents now cover essentials and that the district's own event showcased arts even as funding for them was cut. "A child and their family shouldn't have to beg for money for basic needs to enable the child to participate," she said. Noel Emehl, band director at Northwood High School, said the revised stipend left him earning roughly "$2 an hour" for extra marching-band time. "That was the final reason that made me accept this position," Emehl said, describing an $8,000 salary differential tied to the stipend he expected.

Several teachers likewise said they completed master's degrees in the expectation that local master's pay would be honored. Liz Davis, a Pollard Middle School teacher, said she paid to upgrade licensure and was later told the local master's-pay fund had been capped, leaving her out of pocket. "I can't quite put into words what it felt like to read the words 'local master's pay success story' the very next day in our payroll memo," she said.

District leaders addressed those concerns during a lengthy presentation. Dr. Kelly Batten, assistant superintendent for human resources, and other central staff said the unified stipend program initially presented in January had an implementation error: stipend payouts were calculated using years-of-experience rather than the approved flat-rate model. As a result, the district found arts and academic stipend payouts exceeded the planning projection by about $118,000 at year close, creating a locally funded deficit that the district said was unsustainable going into year two.

"Teachers were not at fault during the first year administration of the unified stipends," Batten said, adding the district is not recouping overpayments from staff under Board policy 7620. The board was told the revised plan reduced the number of paid categories and recalibrated the flat-rate base so the stipend plan is "stable, aligned, [and] sustainable for year 2" while preserving stipend categories for arts where possible. District staff said the revised model keeps 100% of the district's 51 arts teachers in an extra-duty stipend category, but at a reduced, reconfigured flat rate.

On the master's-pay program, staff said the district budgeted $250,000 of locally funded pay to cover verified employees who had an M-level license recorded with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI). Initial implementation paid 29 eligible employees in August payroll; later updates to licensure added more recipients and the district exceeded the budgeted allocation, prompting a cap. Staff emphasized that not all master's programs automatically qualify for the state-level M designation and that employees must update their NCDPI license to be eligible.

"We encouraged employees to get their documentation in; we worked with DPI to help them," staff said, while noting the budgeted allocation did not anticipate the number of employees who were eligible once licensing records were updated.

Board members asked for clearer, lay-friendly explanations of distinctions between coaching pay (a separate paid job in many cases), club adviser or extracurricular work tied to curriculum, and locally funded stipends. Superintendent Jackson acknowledged the district's miscalculation and said staff had been working on these financial issues since May. "A mistake was made," he said, and the district has taken steps to stabilize the program while prioritizing retaining classroom positions.

The meeting produced no formal vote to reverse the stipend or master's-pay decisions; instead, staff described the recalibrated stipend framework and outlined continued communications and monitoring. Several speakers asked the board to restore earlier stipend levels or reallocate funds to maintain arts programming. Board members and staff indicated the board could direct the superintendent to alter the approach, but no such formal direction was recorded at this meeting.

The board did approve separate actions at the same meeting, including a budget amendment and school improvement plans. District officials said they will continue communications with staff and the public and encouraged employees to update NCDPI licensure where appropriate to establish future eligibility for any master's-pay allocations.

The most immediate next steps the district reported were continued monitoring of the revised stipend program, additional outreach and clarity to employees about eligibility for master's pay, and further budget-level discussions with county budget officials about long-term funding capacity.