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Board hears finance update as staff warns SRO funding and vouchers squeeze district cash flow
Summary
Finance staff reported state and local allotment percentages and flagged liquidity issues driven by monthly county payments and rising voucher/private-school funding; staff said county SRO funding of $316,985 helps but does not fully cover the district’s SRO obligations.
Bladen County Schools finance staff told the school board Monday that the district has sufficient funding across federal, state and local sources on paper but faces cash-flow strains because county funds arrive monthly and many state allocations are reimbursed or time-sensitive.
“From a local fund standpoint, our current expense percentage is 94.56% or approximately $7,760,000,” finance presenter Nolan (S14) said during the financial update, and he told the board the district had secured $316,985 from county commissioners specifically to support school resource officers (SROs) for the coming year.
Board members pressed staff for specifics and asked whether those dollars cover the six SROs that the district expects to pay using a mix of county, state and local funds. Finance staff and a sheriff’s office representative said the county’s allotment does not cover all SRO costs and that allocation formulas have not kept pace with raises and cost-of-living increases.
“We do know that that is insufficient funding to pay,” an official supporting SRO funding said, describing historic flat allotments even as salaries rose. Board members said the district has used more than $500,000 of other local funds in past years to cover safety staffing shortfalls.
Finance and administration also highlighted longer-term funding pressure from vouchers and private-school payments. Superintendent Dr. Atkinson and staff showed a Public Schools First NC chart illustrating faster growth in taxpayer dollars flowing to private school vouchers (described in the presentation as a roughly 213% increase over a multi-year period for the district’s private-school voucher outflows), and cautioned that losing students to private or charter options reduces per-pupil revenue while fixed costs—such as aging HVAC—remain.
Board members discussed timing options for county payments (monthly one-twelfths versus an upfront annual allocation), and one suggestion from staff was to request 50% of the county allocation on July 1 and the remainder Jan. 1 to smooth liquidity through high-expense months such as November when supplements are paid.
What’s next: Staff will return with clarifying numbers on SRO counts and contract status and will continue discussions with county commissioners about timing and routing of SRO funds to improve bookkeeping and reduce the district’s need to float expenses.
