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Residents urge Durham commissioners to fully fund DPS'$16 million request during budget hearing
Summary
At a public hearing on the FY2025'26 recommended budget, dozens of residents and Durham Association of Educators leaders urged commissioners to fully fund the Durham Public Schools $16 million request, warning cuts could force layoffs, eliminate promised master'pay increases and worsen bus shortages.
Dozens of residents and school employees pressed the Durham County Board of Commissioners to fully fund Durham Public Schools's $16,000,000 request during a public hearing on the FY2025'26 county manager'recommended budget.
"The county manager's proposed budget does not fully fund DPS's request," said Micah Hunter Tweetmeyer, president of the Durham Association of Educators, asking the board to avoid layoffs and deep cuts to schools. Multiple speakers, including union members, teachers and school social workers, said the manager proposed $10,000,000 while the school board requested $16,000,000 and that the shortfall would force painful program and personnel decisions.
Union members described real-world impacts if the full amount is not funded: potential loss of the $200 bus driver supplement, reduced master's pay for eligible staff and cuts to frontline positions. "If you only fund $10 million of this ask, DPS will be forced to make impossible decisions," said Maggie Radic, a Northern High School teacher and DAE member. Lisonbee Swaim, a Riverside High School teacher, warned that even with the full $16 million the district would still face tough choices and said an underfunded budget would lead to cuts affecting monitors and drivers.
Advocates also linked school funding to other county priorities. Speakers asked the board to invest in community-based alternatives to policing in schools and to fund complementary programs such as HEART expansion and early legal defense pilots that they say reduce later costs to child welfare and public safety.
The public hearing opened at the board meeting and ran through multiple rounds of commenters before the board closed the hearing and returned to other agenda business. Commissioners did not take a final budget vote at the meeting; the hearing was to collect resident input for consideration during the budget process.
