Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools to cut hiring next year as it feels budget squeeze
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- CMS will hire about 200 fewer new staff next year.
- Enrollment dip will reduce CMS state funding; state budget remains unapproved.
- Superintendent proposes a 5% supplement; closing living wage gap needs $100M+.
With a drop in enrollment and an expected funding squeeze, CMS plans to cut back on new hires by about 10% next school year.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education held a budget workshop Monday where district leaders started planning for the 2027 fiscal year. It’s still early in the process: Superintendent Crystal Hill will make her budget recommendation to the board March 24, and the board will vote April 28.
“We already know we’re not adding anything new this year,” Hill said Monday. “We can’t afford to add any additional positions.”
The district could lose up to 60% of its Title II, III and IV funds from the federal government according to the communication she’s gotten so far, CMS Chief Financial Officer Kelly Kluttz told the board Monday. That funding goes toward professional development, resources for multilingual students and enrichment. Though, exactly how much will be cut is not certain.
President Donald Trump’s administration has angled for steep cuts to Title II, III and IV grants as part of larger proposed reductions to federal education spending. The administration froze around $6 billion in already-allocated Title II, III and IV grants June 30, including a potential $12.5 million in CMS. The administration later reversed course in July after 24 state attorneys general, including NC’s Jeff Jackson, sued for the money to be released.
The state also still has not approved a new budget, including raises for state employees like teachers.
The projections follow the release of new state data showing the district’s student population dropped by about 1.7% this year – about on par with the average drop statewide. But that also means there will be a decrease in state funding for CMS next year, since the bulk of it is determined by the size of a district’s student population. As a result, Kluttz said, CMS will have to “right-size” its workforce.
“This means having the right number of people for the number of students we serve,” she said. “We already have enough staff to meet our current needs.”
Hill and Kluttz said the district plans to reduce its staff through “natural attrition.” CMS typically hires around 2,000 new employees, including 1,000 teachers and 1,000 other staff, ahead of each school year. This year, it will hire around 200 fewer total employees than usual.
Kluttz also said some staff members may be reassigned to new schools as needed. She acknowledged budget constraints have left the district with tough decisions to make.
“There are certainly things we’ve cut over the past few years that require people to do more with less,” she said.
Decrease in enrollment
District leaders said the drop in student population was due to a mix of factors, including a decline in school-age children expected to continue through the 2027-28 school year. After reaching a projected low of around 138,000 students, the district projects its enrollment will start to trend back up.
“It’s a sign of demographics and where we are in Charlotte right now,” Kluttz said.
Statewide, enrollment decreased in 105 of the 115 total NC public school districts over the last year, for a total decrease of 24,110 students – around 1.8%. It’s a continuation of a trend: enrollment has decreased in NC traditional public schools by over 5% since 2019.
But enrollment at charter schools and lab schools across North Carolina has increased by 46.6% since 2019. The number of Mecklenburg County students opting for charter schools increased by 1.4% between the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years.
District leaders said they’re pursuing ways to increase CMS’ market share, which is about 70% of the school-age kids in Mecklenburg County.
“The game of public education is changing, and if we don’t change along with it, we are going to be left behind,” Hill said.
Teacher pay
Educator pay is made of two main elements: the state base salary and the district supplement. The supplement is county-funded and added onto what the state provides, in order to bring salaries closer to a living wage.
Hill said she plans to propose a 5% increase to teacher supplements this year, just as she has the past budget cycles. If approved, it would increase starting teacher pay in CMS by $398. This school year, starting teachers in CMS will make $48,943.
The living wage in Mecklenburg County for a single, childless adult is currently $55,307, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Living Wage Calculator. With the current CMS pay scale, teachers do not surpass that benchmark until their 10th year in the district. Under the state’s pay schedule, with no county supplement, teachers would not reach that benchmark until their 25th year.
“Our long-term goal is to put teachers at every experience level above the local living wage,” Hill said. “But that is still a very long-term goal.”
To do that, Kluttz said, it would take over $100 million.
This story was originally published December 15, 2025 at 9:28 PM.
