Local leaders are bracing for the long haul when it comes to challenges in state and federal funding for public schools.
A panel of educators and elected officials discussed the role of local and county funding Monday at a League of Women Voters discussion on public school funding.
The Trump administration has said that it wants to send education back to the states, which could include allowing them to dole out federal funds. But Susan Rodriguez-McDowell, a Democrat on the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners, said she believes that would be detrimental to Mecklenburg County.
“This is a warning, flashing light to Mecklenburg — because who does the state love to screw over more than anyone else? Mecklenburg," Rodriguez-McDowell said. "So if those funds from the feds are getting siphoned through the state, I can guarantee you that’s not going to come out the other end the same amount of money.”
Charlotte-Mecklenburg School Board Member Summer Nunn said she believes recent uncertainty about funding at the state and federal level will be an ongoing problem — and that schools will increasingly have to rely on local funding sources.
CMS is weighing a 2025-26 budget that would ask Mecklenburg County to contribute $667 million, $28 million more than last year’s contribution.
