Big spending needs for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools could be on a collision course with a tighter-than-usual county budget scenario, according to information presented at a joint meeting of county commissioners and the school board Wednesday.
The county already raised the property tax rate one cent for the current year to cover debt for the $2.5 billion bond package for CMS that voters approved in November, and it plans another one-cent hike for 2024-25.
County Manager Dena Diorio said the current projection is that she could add only $36.2 million to the coming year’s budget without having to increase taxes further. That’s a tighter budget than she’s worked with in recent years, she said, noting that when she was planning the budget a year ago she had $90 million in growth revenue.
Diorio said that’s mainly because sales tax growth is leveling off after the pandemic.
“People were doing home improvement projects. They were doing a lot of online shopping, so we did see significant growth over those three periods and we are seeing that start to flatten out,” she said.
CMS needs more
CMS officials told commissioners the district does not plan to ask the county for money to offset $190 million in federal COVID-19 aid that’s in the current budget.
“We knew that we were going to receive an influx of COVID dollars to address the pandemic,” Superintendent Crystal Hill said. “We knew that these funds would sunset in September of 2024 and we have been planning for the sunset of these funds.”
But CMS Chief Financial Officer Kelly Kluttz then outlined a long list of needs for the coming year, including:
- $54.8 million to repair roofs, HVAC systems and other problems in aging buildings. That’s not part of the renovation money that’s in the bond package.
- $34 million to raise pay for hourly workers, including increasing the minimum wage from $15.60 an hour to $18.20.
- $33 million to modernize financial, budget and HR software.
- $16 million to buy new laptops and tablets for students to take home.
- $7.4 million to add 5% to the local teacher-pay supplement.
- $2.5 million to boost cybersecurity.
The new needs and increased costs added up to $189 million — more than five times the estimated growth money available not only for CMS but for all items in the county budget.
Hill repeatedly assured commissioners that she’s still working on her budget request and does not plan to ask them to cover all of those costs. She could cut other items to offset new spending or defer some of the items on the list.
But school board Vice Chair Dee Rankin said he sees a challenge ahead.
“The Board of County Commissioners will really have to prioritize, seeing that it’s much lower than usual for previous years,” he said.
“That’s correct,” Diorio said.
“Glad you got that!” said commission chair George Dunlap.
Bigger raises?
For the most part, commissioners didn’t debate items on the CMS list — except for Arthur Griffin and Pat Cotham suggesting the raises for hourly staff should be bigger.
“I would like for you to really think about getting them up to at least $20 an hour,” Cotham said. “And with a goal of getting it up, like within two years, to $22. Because that’s what it really needs to be to be living in this area.”
“I think the response to that is real obvious,” Dunlap said, anticipating what CMS officials might say. “Yeah, we’ll do it if you give us the money.”
Hill is working on a budget plan that will be presented at the March 26 school board meeting. The school board will vote in April and present the request to commissioners. County officials will then look at that request, along with spending plans for parks, libraries, social services, pre-kindergarten, Central Piedmont Community College and other county-funded services, before approving a budget and a tax rate.
Mixed reviews on academics
As always, the budget talks focused not just on money but on whether CMS is using the money wisely to help students. In recent years commissioners have been skeptical, even voting to withhold $56 million in 2021 until CMS presented better plans to improve academic achievement for Black and Hispanic students.
During that time Dunlap was one of the most vocal critics. But on Wednesday, after seeing data on how CMS students are rebounding from pandemic setbacks, he voiced approval.
“We wanted to see a trajectory of moving forward, moving ahead, moving up, improvement,” Dunlap said. “And I think this demonstrates that we’re moving in that direction.”
Dunlap is a former chairman of the CMS board. So is Griffin, who said he was dismayed by the five-year academic goals the school board recently approved.
For instance, the board wants to see half of all elementary and middle school students earn college-and-career-ready reading scores by 2029, up from 30.5% last year.
“Your goals for me, from where I sit, are horribly, horribly low and unacceptable,” Griffin said.
Superintendent Hill disagreed, saying the board chose to set its goals based on a level that’s higher than basic grade-level proficiency. Hill is working on a strategic plan to meet those goals and her performance will be rated on whether she succeeds.
“Our board has set extremely high standards for me and for our district,” Hill said.
“We may agree to disagree, but you’re losing Black middle class,” Griffin said. “We can’t afford to lose the middle class out of our public school system.”
As Hill and Griffin went back and forth, Dunlap broke in.
“It is the Board of Education whose job it is to determine what the goals and standards are,” Dunlap said. “And if anybody wants to do something different, then they need to run for the school board and set a different set of goals.”
“Our job as Board of Commissioners is to help you reach those goals,” Dunlap added, “and to the degree that we can, fund what we can to help you reach those goals.”
Some commissioners said they think relationships between CMS and the county are improving, despite some tension and disagreements.
“This is my sixth year on this board,” said Vice Chair Mark Jerrell. “And I have to say this is probably the best joint meeting that we’ve had for a lot of different reasons. I think everybody came into it with the right attitude and the right spirit. I think we had the right agenda and the right leadership.”
