Why CMS will cut some positions as it asks for $25.1 million more in budget
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools’ superintendent plans to ask for $25.1 million more from Mecklenburg County this year, according to the 2026-27 budget proposal presented Tuesday. It also includes $3.9 million in cuts to central office staff.
Superintendent Crystal Hill presented her recommendation for next year’s budget to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education Tuesday night. The board won’t vote until April 28, following an April 14 public hearing. Mecklenburg County Commissioners are expected to vote whether to fund the proposal June 2.
The operating budget is projected to total $1.97 billion, which represents a 0.8% increase over this year. In total, $698.7 million would come from Mecklenburg County. The bulk – about 54.6% – comes from the state, while 6.8% comes from the federal government.
But that number is based on a set of assumptions that seem to rest on increasingly unstable ground. The state legislature has yet to approve a budget for this fiscal year that began in July – let for alone for 2026-27.
In the meantime, state employees such as public school teachers haven’t received raises they expected and which CMS budgeted for this time last year.
“That has been very difficult as we plan for next school year, and it also puts us in a really bad position in terms of assuming how much the next budget may be,” Hill told reporters at an event Thursday afternoon. “It puts us at a disadvantage.”
Even with the state budget in limbo, Hill projects the state will fund 3% raises for teachers in its next budget based on the average increase to teacher salaries over the past 5 years.
It’s the same increase she projected this time last year. But, those raises never materialized. Once the state passes a budget, Hill said, it may require the district to make adjustments.
One of the district’s strategies for increasing its fiscal flexibility is cutting some spending outside the classroom, including central office positions, to the tune of $6.6 million. Hill said it’s money the district can use for raises for county-funded employees if the state decides to give raises higher than 3%.
The district said the cuts would be to positions, not staff, and most affected employees have been moved into other roles.
For now, Hill isn’t making any specific recommendations for how to allocate the extra cash.
“As we saw this year, the state doesn’t always do what we expect,” CMS Chief Financial Officer Kelly Kluttz said Tuesday. “So, it’s important that we have a plan and we are prepared for different scenarios that might happen.”
Teacher pay
Educator pay in North Carolina comprises two main components: the base salary, which is determined and funded by the state legislature, and the supplement, which is funded by the county.
While CMS doesn’t have control over the state salary schedule, the locally-funded supplement is the lever it can pull to adjust teacher pay.
Hill wants a 5% increase to teacher supplements, which range from about $8,000 to $14,000.
“I am requesting what I believe is appropriate for the county to do its part,” Hill told reporters at a Tuesday news conference.
Still, without increased state investment, CMS cannot “supplement its way out of its pay issues,” Hill said.
“We have to have both… because it is more expensive to live in Charlotte-Mecklenburg than in, for example, some parts of Union County,” she said. “So, I’ll continue to ask for 5% (supplement increases) even if the state raises the pay…We want people to live here, not just work here.”
North Carolina ranked 43rd in the nation for teacher pay in 2025, lagging behind neighboring states like South Carolina and Virginia, according to the National Education Association. The Education Law Center recently ranked North Carolina at the bottom nationally in state funding for schools. Teachers around the state, including in CMS, called out of work in protest Jan. 7, calling for higher state investment in public education.
The “Highlights of the North Carolina Public School Budget” report released this month by the state Department of Public Instruction shows average teacher compensation dropped 1% this school year.
CMS leaders said Tuesday teacher retention is a top priority for the district. However, teacher pay is a top obstacle to keeping teachers in CMS.
NCDPI data released last month showed 15% of CMS teachers left the district in the last year. The most cited reasons were on-time retirement, followed by career change due to “inadequate compensation,” CMS officials told The Charlotte Observer.
“We will never recruit our way to our goals,” Kluttz said Tuesday.
Other budget highlights
The budget proposal includes about $33 million from the county for capital improvements to address renovations, plumbing, roofing and HVAC concerns.
Budget highlights tied to personnel include $23.9 million in pay for literacy and math “master teachers”; $13.1 million for specialists to support the district’s 186 literacy and math master teachers; and $800,000 for the district’s professional development and on-boarding program, CROWN Academy.
About $6.5 million will go toward additional pay for teachers in the district’s Teacher-Leader Pathway program, designed to develop high quality instructors who can then lead teachers in other classrooms.
The budget proposal also includes $700,000 for a performance bonus for Math I teachers in CMS high schools. It would be the second year the controversial bonus is funded, despite some pushback from former board members.
Approximately $30.7 million will go toward “core instruction.” That includes $11 million for curriculum, $6 million for new devices for students and $13.7 million for “extended learning opportunities,” like CMS’ summer learning program and its online reading and math assessment and instruction system, known as iReady.
Part of Hill’s budget proposal includes increasing school lunch prices by 10 cents. That would mean elementary school lunches would cost $2.85, while middle and high school lunches would cost $3.10.
The district currently provides free breakfast to all students and would continue to do so under Hill’s recommendation.
Of the district’s 185 schools, 115 currently provide all students with free lunch through the federal Community Eligibility Provision, or CEP. Those schools have a high proportion of low income students, and CEP schools would continue to provide free lunches to all students under Hill’s 2027-28 budget proposal.
This story was originally published March 24, 2026 at 10:00 PM.
