CMS budget proposal includes teacher raises as it cuts federal funding expectations
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools’ newest budget proposal allocates less than two-thirds of its projected federal funding next fiscal year as officials brace for potential cuts.
With COVID relief money gone as well as the cancellation of several federal grants last month, the district expects to receive over $117 million in federal funding for the 2025-26 school – 6% of its total budget. However, in the proposed 2025-26 budget, CMS Superintendent Crystal Hill is allocating 65% of projected federal funding in anticipation of funding cuts or delays amid a federal Department of Education in limbo. That funding, she said, will go toward paying staff.
The numbers were part of Hill’s annual budget presentation Tuesday to the CMS board of education. The $2.1 billion budget proposal includes a total operating budget of over $1.95 billion, an increase of less than 1% over this year’s current operating budget.
Hill’s proposal calls for $28.3 million more from Mecklenburg County, $26 million of which will go to pay increases.
That’s in addition to the already approved $639 million recurring county appropriation county commissioners approved last year. If the proposed increase is approved, it would bring the total county appropriation to approximately $668 million.
The district projects a total student population of about 141,700 next school year.
Hill says the goal with this year’s budget is to maintain the student experience and retain educators, despite more limited funding.
But the budget comes during an uncertain time for public education across the country. President Donald Trump’s administration has targeted diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, resulting in over $6 million in terminated CMS grants the Department of Education claimed went toward DEI programming. Trump also signed an executive order Thursday ordering the secretary of education to begin dismantling the U.S. Department of Education, which is responsible for administering federal grants to school districts like CMS.
“We don’t know what’s going to happen with federal funds, but the fact is that every year, we develop a budget based on assumptions,” Hill said Tuesday morning during a briefing with reporters. “So, if we receive cuts, then we’ll have to go back and make budget amendments just like we do every year.”
A large portion of the district’s federal funding is tied to people. Over 2,100 current CMS employees are paid using federal funds, which accounts for over 10% of the district’s approximately 19,000 employees. If there are federal funding cuts, the goal is to avoid cutting staff, Hill said.
“In the event that we are faced with any cuts ... the plan is to not face any reduction in force and personnel,” she said. “We will be cutting things and not necessarily people.”
Teacher pay
CMS leaders said Tuesday the community has been vocal about what they want the district to prioritize: paying teachers better.
Hill’s budget proposal aims for an average increase to teacher supplements of 5% and assumes a state salary increase of 3%.
CMS draws its funding from three main sources: Mecklenburg County, the state of North Carolina and federal grants. Hill’s budget proposal projects drawing 55.4% of the district’s budget from the state, 34.2% from the county, 6% from the federal government and 4.3% from other special sources.
In a budget cycle CMS leaders have deemed “tight,” due to expected shortfalls in all of the district’s main funding sources, CMS is repurposing $3.8 million from its central office budget as well as $3.4 million in existing teacher vacancies.
Despite the shifts, Hill said families will “not feel” a change.
“We are committed to maintaining the student experience, so any cut that we’ve made, students will not feel it and families will not feel it,” she said. “We are not making any cuts to the student experience.”
Hill said she believes the state needs to improve its efforts to fund public schools.
“I don’t want to create the illusion that schools are properly funded because schools are not properly funded,” she said. “If we were funded better at the state level, we would not have to do all of these wonky things in order to make sure that we have a competitive workforce.”
North Carolina currently ranks 48th in the nation for school funding, according to the Education Law Center. Despite a growing economy and tax base, the state currently spends almost $5,000 less per student than the national average and trails behind neighboring South Carolina and Virginia.
Some board members want the county to contribute more to CMS as well.
“I think we can go to our county and ask for more,” board member Summer Nunn said Tuesday. “Other counties are spending a larger portion of their budget on K through 12.”
CMS is currently one of just four districts, out of the 115 total in North Carolina, that does not receive supplemental teacher pay from the state. The others are Wake County Schools, Guilford County Schools and Durham Public Schools.
Other budget highlights
The budget proposal includes about $33 million from the county for capital improvements to address safety, security, roofing and HVAC concerns.
Budget highlights tied to personnel include $26.8 million for literacy and math “master teachers”; $9.6 million for specialists to support the district’s 186 literacy and math master teachers; and $2.3 million for the district’s professional development and on-boarding program, CROWN Academy.
The budget proposal also includes $700,000 for a controversial performance bonus for Math I instructors at Title I high schools.
“That bonus is not something I can support,” Board Member Melissa Easley said Tuesday. “It pits teachers against each other... To only reward 32 teachers, which this would do, would be a slap in the face to other teachers.”
However, Hill argued the state already has a performance-based bonus structure focused on math and reading teachers specifically.
Since the Math I bonus would be federally funded, the school board will not vote on it until it’s presented with the other federal programs in April.
Community engagement meetings will be held April 2. The board will hold a public hearing for the budget proposal at its meeting April 8 and will vote on the proposal April 22.
This story was originally published March 25, 2025 at 9:13 PM.
