‘Tough decisions.’ Why Mecklenburg County’s revenue may not keep up with CMS needs
Too-slow revenue growth could create tough decisions when Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools submits its budget to county commissioners later this year.
The county’s general fund has grown at an average rate of about 3.9% over the past 10 years, Mecklenburg County Budget Director Adrian Cox told commissioners and school board members during a joint meeting on Monday. Meanwhile, funding provided by the county to CMS has grown at an average 5.2% per year.
This year, about 38% of the county’s general fund — money generated by property and sales taxes as well as other sources — went toward CMS. If the same pattern continues, that figure will be 41% in 2030.
The increased CMS expenses align with county commissioners’ aim of prioritizing education. However, the county’s rate of revenue growth has not kept up with inflation in recent years, and neither have teacher pay raises from the state.
Starting teachers in North Carolina will make $41,000 this school year. The living wage for a single, childless adult in Mecklenburg County is around $50,700, according to Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Living Wage Calculator. To help with that gap, Mecklenburg County funds supplemental educator pay.
Depending on how much CMS asks the county for this spring, commissioners may have to make tough funding choices. The 2025-26 budget year starts on July 1.
“We’re talking about $49 million in growth revenue to cover anything over and above what we did in fiscal year 2024,” said David Boyd, Mecklenburg County chief financial officer. “Just looking at county employees, that’s about $31 million… so that’s a challenge.”
Boyd says Mecklenburg County is not alone.
“I would say the larger urban counties are seeing the same picture we are with sales tax and property tax,” he said.
CMS hasn’t submitted its budget request yet, but district leaders on Monday presented some anticipated needs — around $28 million that’s almost entirely tied to employee benefits and compensation.
“The list you see here is not our ask,” said CMS Chief Financial Officer Kelly Kluttz. “We will not ask you for anything that is not absolutely necessary after assessing the trade-offs and the risks.”
The county’s budget crunch is joined by uncertainty about whether or how incoming President Donald Trump’s administration will change the amount of federal funding schools get, including Title 1 dollars, Kluttz said. CMS currently gets around 8.7% of its budget from the federal government.
CMS budget
CMS board members unanimously approved Superintendent Crystal Hill’s 2024-25 budget proposal in April. The $2.1 billion plan called for about $653 million in funding from the county, up about $56 million from last year’s allocation of $597 million. The district attributed much of its request to recurring needs, such as teacher pay supplements and day-to-day operations.
While county commissioners ultimately voted to fund CMS’ request, they shared mixed opinions on the proposal.
“I think this is perhaps the worst budget that I have seen in 30 years from CMS as it relates to student achievement,” Commissioner Arthur Griffin, a former school board chairman, said at the budget proposal presentation May 8.
Griffin said he wanted to see more money focused directly on students instead of salaries and maintenance needs.
Several commissioners last year said state legislators underfunded public education and put the county in a tough position. Griffin on Monday said he still believes that’s the case.
“The state of North Carolina is supposed to be funding public schools appropriately, and they’re not doing it,” he told The Charlotte Observer. “So, we have to make tough decisions about what level of funding to provide for the schools.”
The best outcomes for students require creative collaborations and community partnerships, Griffin said.
“There’s a lot of resources going into helping kids,” he said. “We just have to make sure that those resources are more effective than they have been in the past and, hopefully, can be more effective in the future.”
Making nice
The two boards have been known to clash in recent years, but there was a notable tone shift at Monday’s meeting. Several county commissioners commended CMS on gains it saw in student growth during the 2023-24 school year.
Namely, 146 of the district’s 184 total schools met or exceeded state achievement growth expectations – the most in the district’s history. The district also saw achievement gaps between white, Black and Hispanic students shrink when it comes to early literacy, though gaps in achievement do still persist.
Griffin said there is still more to be done.
“We’re talking about growth. Growth is important, but it doesn’t say that you can read well enough to be classified as college-ready or career-ready,” he said. “So, we have a lot of work to do in Mecklenburg County.”
This story was originally published January 14, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
