2025-2026 Public Education Legislative Goals
- Support school calendar policy that promotes optimal student outcomes and best meets the needs of local communities.
- Support legislation that promotes education attainment and career and college readiness by increasing funding to expand apprenticeship and internship programs, trade certification and workforce development programs, as well as increased student support services in public schools with a focus on dropout prevention and an increase in the dropout age.
- Seek legislation and funding to expand registered apprenticeship tuition waivers to an applicant’s 25th birthday to align with the opportunity youth demographic.
- Seek additional revenue sources to address statewide public school and community college capital needs and ensure methods used to distribute school capital funding considers the needs of both low-wealth and growing counties.
- Support legislation modernizing public school funding models in a changing school funding landscape to provide all public school students with an excellent education, including investments to assist communities in eliminating achievement disparities.
- Support increased funding to provide counties an equal opportunity to implement school security measures.
- [Top Legislative Priority Goal] Support legislation promoting teacher and classified school personnel recruitment and retention, including state funding for increased salaries.
NCACC Public Education Services Committee Guiding Principles
- State and county responsibility for public education should be clearly set in state policy and statute, and should recognize the following:
- The impact of changing technologies on basic educational needs and the job market of the future.
- The impact of any changes on the facility needs of local school systems.
- The need for county commissioners to have the authority to make sure funds appropriated for school facility needs are used accordingly.
- The challenges faced by counties in balancing changes in school populations with insufficient county revenues.
- The need for county commissioners to have the authority to address extraordinary circumstances such as natural disasters, public health crises, and other emergencies.
- Taxing authority for local public education should be vested exclusively with boards of county commissioners.
- The state should define and support an adequate sound basic education for every student in all local school systems and should appropriate adequate operating revenue to fully fund its education initiatives.
- Effective classroom technologies and innovations should be available to all public schools and community colleges.
- North Carolina’s community colleges are critical components of the state’s integrated efforts to prepare youth and adults for constructive participation in a constantly changing economy.
- Early education is a critical component for student success in North Carolina’s education system.
County Funding of Public Schools
Basic of County Funding of Public Schools
- North Carolina has a unique governing and financing structure for public education. This white paper describes the different roles that counties have in funding public schools
- Article from 1958 to the Committee for the Study of Public School Finance regarding counties’ ability to meet public school capital demands and supplement current expense (PDF)
- Visual of the N.C. Public School Partnership timeline.
- CountyQuarterly Article on Senator Brown from Spring 2017 Issue.
- CountyQuarterly Article on School Funding from Winter 2017 Issue.
PowerPoint Presentation on Public School Capital Funding
To view this presentation, click here.
Public School Fund Balances
Unlike local governments that levy property tax, such as counties, local school systems do not need to keep a large fund balance because they receive their funding from both the state and county in monthly increments. Data from the Local Government Commission and NC DPI show the fund balance held by each school district last year (need updated link).
How School Funding Agreements Impact the County-School Board Partnership
Gordon Wilder, NCACC Public Education Steering Committee Chair, explains how Boards of County Commissioners and Boards of Education use agreements (or formulas) to determine annual school system funding, providing consistency and a foundation for discussions.
Steering Committee Membership List
The following committee appointments were confirmed the week of August 29. Appointments for the 2024-2025 committees will end July 31, 2025. Committee membership is limited to county commissioners, but county staff and affiliates are welcome to join meetings as non-member attendees. Check the NCACC Calendar for meeting details.
- 2024-2025 Public Education Steering Committee
Public Education
Commissioners Carly Cooke (Guilford; Steering Committee Chair), Mary Ellon Ballance (Dare), Melvetta Broadnax Taylor (Northampton), Randy Burns (Burke), Michelle Burton (Durham), Heidi Carter (Durham), Amanda Edwards (Buncombe), Susan Evans (Wake), Mike Forte (Brunswick), Darrel Gibson (Scotland), Viola Harris (Edgecombe), Melissa Hiatt (Surry), Chadwick Howard (Craven), Casey Johnson (Wilkes), Judy Klusman (Rowan), Ellis Lawrence (Chowan), Randal Mathews (Hyde), Martin Moore (Buncombe), Nick Picerno (Moore), Mark Richardson (Rockingham), Susan Rodriguez-McDowell (Mecklenburg), Crystal Smith (Warren), Jarvis Woodburn (Anson)
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