Gaston County Schools will face layoffs without more money, superintendent says

Just months after eliminating 174 positions, Gaston County Schools is headed for another round of layoffs if it doesn’t get more county funding.

Gaston County commissioners voted on its full budget plan for next year May 12 and opted not to increase local funding for operating its public schools. Commissioners did, however, vote to ask the North Carolina General Assembly for permission to levy a quarter-cent sales tax specifically for Gaston County Schools. If approved, it would be on the ballot in November.

County Commission Vice Chair Bob Hovis said the sales tax would generate somewhere between $9.5 million to $11 million for the school district if passed, the Gaston Gazette reported.

A May 28 financial report from an independent consulting firm hired by the school district also showed the county is spending less of its revenue on public education than its peers. 

The report contested, “The district cannot continue operating at the current level without additional funding from the county.”

It came amid tense budget negotiations between the Gaston County Board of Education and commissioners. The May 12 vote did not fully fund the school board’s budget proposal for the 2026-27 school year, which called for a county contribution of about $60.5 million to the district’s operating expenses, up from $54 million this school year.

But two members from each body – Ron Hovis and Scott Shehan of the county commission and school board members Josh Crisp and A.M. Stephens III – held a closed-door meeting last week to discuss funding.

Shehan told The Charlotte Observer last week was the first of “many meetings” to come, and it’s too soon to say whether the county will pony up more cash. 

“However, all sides are committed to continue working through this to find a feasible and sustainable solution for a path forward,” Shehan told The Observer in an email Friday.

Neither Crisp nor Stephens responded to attempts to reach them for comment on the meeting.

Without more funding, Gaston County Schools Superintendent Morgen Houchard told the board the district needs to slash 75 more positions next fall.

Brittany Elkin, a Gaston County native and parent to two GCS students, has become an outspoken advocate for more school funding in recent months.

“The numbers tell me that education is not a priority in Gaston County,” Elkin told The Observer. “It feels like the schools are kind of getting what’s left over… And I worry kids are going to fall through the cracks.”

Gaston County Schools report

The financial report released May 28 was conducted by an independent consulting firm called Hurd, Isenhour and Lopes. It looked at the school district’s financials as well as county revenues and expenses over a four-year period. The Observer obtained the report through a public records request.

Gaston County’s property tax revenue increased about 21.6% between 2021 and 2025, the report showed. Meanwhile, the county’s total revenue increased by 77.8%. Its fund balance, which is used like a savings account, increased by 53.5%.

Over those same four years, the county’s spending on Gaston County Schools’ budget increased by just 4.6%. 

As it stands, Gaston County contributes $54 million – about 18% of the county’s budget – to operating GCS, and doesn’t plan to increase that amount next school year.

It’s a smaller share than most similarly-sized counties in the region. The next-lowest share is Lincoln County, which allocates 27% of its budget for its public school system.

“A flat budget does not recognize the impact of inflation,” Houchard told the school board May 18. Aside from supplemental increases to teacher pay, Gaston County has increased its contribution to GCS’ operating expenses by a total of $800,000 over the past four years combined.

Gaston teacher pay

While Gaston County provides local funding to supplement teacher pay, the report concluded that the increases haven’t kept up with the cost of living.

“The increase did not keep pace with inflationary costs, including state mandated increases in employer retirement contributions, health insurance for locally funded staff and state mandated salary increases,” the report stated.

In Gaston County, supplemental teacher pay currently ranges from $3,562.30 to $5,451.90 a year, on top of state funded teacher salaries. That brings pay for most starting teachers in the district to around $44,500. 

In Mecklenburg County, starting teacher salaries come in at around $48,000. In Union County, it’s more like $47,300. Just across the state line in South Carolina, teachers in Clover School District make a minimum of $51,500.

Elkin is concerned the current budget makes it more difficult for the district to attract the best educators, since they can make more money in neighboring counties. And when it does attract them, she said it’s hard to get them to stay.

“I have seen in my kids going to school that schools become a community…and that’s not going to happen if we aren’t retaining our teachers,” Elkin said. “There are teachers who are leaving, and it’s breaking their hearts, but at some point, they have to be able to pay their bills or feed their family, and they can’t do that on a Gaston County Schools salary.”

The $10 million bailout

GCS ran into serious financial trouble earlier this year, resulting in a $10 million bailout from Gaston County commissioners in order to make it through the end of the 2025-26 school year without up to 400 layoffs.

Even with the lifeline, the school district still laid off 174 employees and instituted a spending freeze. 

HIL consultants concluded the financial woes were a result of a combination of blows GCS’ bottom line: the end of federal COVID relief funding and a reduction in low-wealth funding from the state due to rapid growth in the county’s tax base. 

Consultants also found that the school district erroneously spent more than $2 million on the employer share of health insurance because of problems with its payroll system.

The report added that the district’s shortfall was, in part, due to “inadequate funding from the county.”

Gaston County School board member Janna Smith said as much at the board meeting May 18. She claimed budget discussions between the school board and county commissioners have been one-sided.

“I was eager and excited to collaborate, but that was not the tone. The tone was clear (from commissioners): ‘You answer to us,’” Smith said. “We have met the ransom demands of the commissioners, and it has gotten us nowhere.”

Elkin said she wants to see a long-term plan for increased investment in public education from the county. And she wants more transparency in how decisions are made.

“I would love to see our funding get more competitive and look more like our peer counties,” she said. “And have the public be allowed to see these meetings so that they’re not ‘good ol’ boy network’ sorts of conversations that we’re not privy to.”

Community members are planning to demonstrate in front of the Gastonia Convention Center ahead of the next commissioners meeting on June 23.

“I feel optimistic in the movement of voters and citizens who are watching all of this happen, and who are getting involved and paying attention,” Elkin said. “I’m talking to people on both sides of the aisle who are saying this is not okay, so I think there are a lot of people invested.”

If more funding doesn’t come through for schools, though, Elkin said she may consider moving out of the county she’s called home her whole life.

“I have very deep family roots here,” she said. “So, I do not say it lightly when I say we would consider leaving if the county doesn’t invest more.”

This story was originally published June 8, 2026 at 1:30 PM.