Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools has identified $37.1 million in needs this budget cycle, including a proposed average 5% increase of the local teacher supplement, which would cost around $8.8 million.
School staff outlined those needs at a board meeting Tuesday.
Other highlights include a $392,000 increase for some classified staff — or non-certified, non-teacher staff — who were not included in last year’s classified pay increases. The district is also asking for $6 million to fund a device replacement program for students. Another $2.7 million would go toward costs associated with opening new schools and $1.5 million would cover increasing utility costs.
Another $8.1 million would go toward funding the district’s obligations to area charter schools to account for students going to those schools.
Those needs would be included in the district’s annual request to Mecklenburg County. CMS Superintendent Crystal Hill won’t make her final recommendation to the board until March 24. The board will vote on April 28. Then, the district will have to make its case to the county, which is set to adopt its budget in June.
Several budget challenges are at play this budget cycle. For one thing, district officials plan to budget cautiously amid ongoing turbulence around education at the federal level. And CMS has also said it plans to hire 200 fewer employees to adjust to an enrollment drop that translates to less funding from the state.
Additionally, Mecklenburg County has said it’s facing a tight budget this year. In January, the county told school officials it was expecting a budget shortfall.
District officials have acknowledged that local teacher salaries lag behind the livable wage in Mecklenburg County, particularly for beginning teachers. But they have also argued that they are limited in how they can address that without more buy-in from the state.
“We know that we can’t simply wait on the state to solve this, but it’s also not feasible for local funding alone to close the gap,” said Katelyn Honeycutt, CMS’ budget director. “Teacher compensation has to be a partnership: the state, local government and districts each have a role to play and everybody has to carry their part of the responsibility.”
The state sets teachers’ base salaries, but local counties can add a supplement to that. CMS officials said Tuesday night that increases in the local supplement alone won’t be able to eliminate that gap. Hill warned that asking for a supplement increase greater than 5% would likely have to come at the expense of one of those other needs, especially given the county’s tight budget.
“All of these things that are here are pretty much a must, so we would have to make the decision: are we going to increase this lever in order to increase teacher supplements,” Hill said.
The state is CMS's largest revenue source, accounting for about 56%, followed by Mecklenburg County at about 34%. Federal funding accounts for about 6% of funding. CMS has also promised to look at finding ways to reduce costs within its own budget.
The North Carolina General Assembly still has not passed a budget, leaving proposals for teacher raises in limbo.
