Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools may need $37.1M more next year — mostly to boost pay
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools needs an estimated $37 million in increased funding next year, most of which would be for increasing pay, district leaders said Tuesday.
CMS Superintendent Crystal Hill did not give an official 2026-27 budget proposal at Tuesday’s school board meeting, but district leaders previewed needs the district has identified so far. Hill won’t present an official budget recommendation to the school board until March 24. Then, Mecklenburg County commissioners will need to vote on it in June.
At Tuesday’s meeting, CMS Chief Financial Officer Kelly Kluttz shared broad projections for spending hikes CMS may face next year, including approximately $8.7 million in county-funded increases to teacher pay, $10 million in state-driven pay and benefits changes, $6 million for new devices for students and $4.1 million for opening and maintaining new buildings and increases to utility costs. The district is also legally required to give about $8.1 million to Mecklenburg County charter schools.
It all comes out to an estimated $37.1 million in increased funding needs over the 2025-26 school year. Increases to compensation represent about $19 million, or 51% of the estimated increase in needed funds. Part of that is for raises and part of it is to pay for roles that are not fully funded by the state. However, the exact amount depends on pay rates set by the state legislature, which didn’t pass a budget last year.
The total doesn’t include increases CMS estimates it will need for capital funding to update CMS buildings and facilities, which the district predicts total about $33 million.
Teacher pay
Community members have emphasized increasing teacher pay and retaining experienced educators as priorities, district leaders said Tuesday.
Starting teachers in CMS this school year make about $48,900, including $41,000 funded by the state and about $8,000 funded by Mecklenburg County. The living wage for a single adult with no children in Mecklenburg County is currently estimated to be about $55,300 – a benchmark teachers in CMS don’t reach until their 10th year in the district.
Last school year, 15% of CMS teachers left, according to state data released last week. The number one reason teachers cited for leaving was on-time retirement, but the second leading reason was changing careers due to “inadequate compensation,” a district spokesperson told The Charlotte Observer.
State employees, including public school teachers, have not gotten a raise since this school year started, as the state legislature has not passed a budget for this fiscal year, which began in July. In the meantime, employees are being paid according to the last full budget the General Assembly passed in 2023.
“Charlotte-Mecklenburg is one of the higher-cost areas of the state, so salary competitiveness has to be viewed in that context,” Katelyn Huneycutt, CMS executive director of budget development and management services, told the board Tuesday. “We know we can’t wait on the state to fix this, but it’s also not feasible for local funding alone to close the gap.”
Mecklenburg County adds a supplement onto teacher pay, which is determined locally. Last year, Hill asked Mecklenburg County commissioners to increase teacher supplements – which currently range from about $8,000 to $14,000 – by 5%, and Hill said she’s planning on asking for the same increase this year.
“We can have anything we want, but we can’t have everything we want,” Hill said. “The county has presented to us in a joint meeting what their growth number is, and understanding they have multiple things to fund, we have to be responsible with what we ask for.”
Budget constraints
CMS is focused on efficiency in crafting its new budget, Kluttz told the school board Tuesday.
“The expectation going forward is not just financial discipline but operational discipline,” Kluttz said. “We’re examining how work gets done, how programs are structured, how staffing is aligned and whether our processes support or slow our biggest priorities.”
Because of a 1.7% drop in enrollment in CMS last fall, the district will get less state funding in the 2026-27 school year than it did for the current year. As a result, CMS plans to hire about 10% fewer new employees this summer than it typically does. That comes out to about 200 fewer new hires.
“The decline in enrollment is largely driven by larger demographic shifts, particularly lower birth rates,” Kluttz said.
CMS leaders were concerned the district could lose some federal funding this year, which accounts for about 6% of its budget. But their fears did not become reality.
In December, CMS Chief Financial Officer Kelly Kluttz said up to 60% of the district’s Title II, III and IV funds from the federal government were at risk of being cut. That funding goes toward professional development, resources for multilingual students and enrichment.
However, in a 2026 federal budget passed in February, Congress maintained funding levels for nearly every existing K-12 program. Kluttz called it “the best case scenario” for CMS.
This story was originally published March 10, 2026 at 9:48 PM.
