Town of Cary paid for a council member’s tuition. Why she gave it back.
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- Cary paid $37,397 toward Mayor Pro Tem Lori Bush’s Northwestern master’s tuition.
- Bush repaid the tuition after a public records request prompted scrutiny.
- Cary Mayor said he wasn’t aware of the payment until the public records request.
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Cary under scrutiny
The town of Cary has been in the spotlight since late November, when Town Manager Sean Stegall was put on administrative leave without any explanation from the town. Stegall resigned Dec. 13, 2025, amid reports of questionable spending. Here is ongoing coverage from The News & Observer.
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The town of Cary paid for a portion of an elected official’s master’s-degree tuition without a public vote or the full Cary Town Council’s knowledge.
Cary paid $37,397 to help cover tuition costs for Town Council member Lori Bush to pursue her master’s degree through Northwestern University’s Public Policy program. That’s roughly equal to the starting salary of a town solid-waste crew leader.
Now, Bush, who enrolled in the program last year, said she’s paid the money back in recent weeks after concerns were raised.
“When questions were raised about the funding, I listened,” she said in a written statement to the News & Observer on Thursday. “Even though I followed the guidance given at the time, I ultimately chose to repay the tuition. I did that to remove any concern or distraction, because trust is vital, and I wanted folks with concerns to know how seriously I take that responsibility.”
Bush was named mayor pro tem by the council during Thursday night’s Town Council meeting. She was first elected in 2011, as one of two at-large council members.
Emails obtained by The N&O show Town Manager Sean Stegall forwarded a promotional email about the Northwestern master’s program to Bush and suggested they take the program together.
The N&O asked Bush if the tuition payment was related to Stegall being placed on administrative leave after the Nov. 20 Town Council meeting. Bush said she “didn’t believe so.”
On Friday, council member Carissa Kohn-Johnson said she wouldn’t comment on why Stegall was placed on leave but also said it wasn’t because of the tuition payments.
“That’s all I am comfortable saying, is that there isn’t some salacious discovery on the horizon,” Kohn-Johnson said.
“[The tuition payments] is one of those situations where folks are sort of drawing dotted lines where there aren’t any,” she said.
Concerns raised in public records request
The concerns were raised by a public records request about a month ago, Bush said, adding that’s when she learned “not everybody was aware, and not everybody was on board.”
The town has paid for other professional development opportunities and staff can receive tuition reimbursement as part of their benefits, Bush said. The Town Council doesn’t normally vote on paying for professional development for elected officials, she said.
Town staff approached her offering to have the town pay for the tuition, she said, adding she checked with the town’s legal and human resources staff.
“Professional development is one of Cary’s core values and something we encourage throughout the organization,” Bush said in the written statement. “I believe that the more knowledgeable and prepared we are, the better we serve our residents. That was the spirit in which I pursued the program and why I felt it would strengthen my work on council.”
Kohn-Johnson declined to say whether the tuition reimbursement was an appropriate use of public funds.
“I will say that paying for [professional] development, whether it’s for somebody in the fire department or on town staff or even council, I think is a very good thing,” she said. “Without a lot of insight into what the costs actually were, I’m not going to comment directly on that tuition reimbursement.”
Mayor says he didn’t know about tuition payment
The Town Council met Thursday to swear-in Kohn-Johnson and two new council members, Bella Huang and Brittany Richards, to the board after November’s election.
At a reception beforehand, Mayor Harold Weinbrecht said he wasn’t aware the town had spent money on Bush’s tuition until the council received the public records request. He declined to comment whether using town money for a council member’s tuition was appropriate.
The total tuition cost for the program ranges from $52,000 to $56,000.
“I don’t know anything I can say right now about that,” Weinbrecht said. “That is all going to come out in the future, and right now, it’s best for me not to say anything because I don’t have all the information. It’d be foolish for me to say something when I don’t have all the information. I don’t know she’s paid it back. I don’t know how much it was. I don’t know anything.”
The News & Observer asked Weinbrecht if he was concerned he wasn’t made aware the town had made the tuition payment.
“I know I will know one day,” he said. “We will get the information one day.”
‘Looks like gifts and favors,’ mayor wrote in email
But correspondence from the mayor shows Weinbrecht at some point became aware the town was paying for tuition and was concerned enough to talk to Stegall about it.
On Friday, the N&O obtained a copy of an email from him referencing tuition payments and a public records request from mid-November. The email did not specifically mention Bush.
“Based on my observations we have spent over $25,000 on tuition which concerns me,” wrote Weinbrecht. “I expressed this concern to Sean [Stegall] in our one-on-one a few weeks ago.”
In the email, Weinbrecht asked for the projected final cost and said the issue should be discussed in an upcoming December meeting.
“I am worried that it looks like gifts and favors especially since this is not an option for town employees,” he said. “I think as a council, we need to understand how it gets approved and paid.”
Weinbrecht did not respond to follow-up questions Friday.
Interim Town Manager Russ Overton referred questions to the town’s communications staff. The News & Observer submitted questions about the tuition payment, including where the money came from, if the town has made similar payments for other council members and what tuition reimbursement policies the town has for staff members.
A 2024 email obtained by the N&O shows from Paula Snell, payroll supervisor for the town, asked the Town Clerk Virginia Johnson if the tuition was for Bush or the entire council.
“Was this tuition for Lori Bush or the entire council? I’m asking because there is an IRS limit on tax free tuition reimbursement, and we need to make sure we are compliant,” Snell wrote.
Johnson said she was unsure, and asked Human Resources Director Renee Poole.
Poole asked that Snell call her.
Twenty minutes later, Snell sent an email stating Bush’s full reimbursement would be covered.
“Since Lori’s reimbursement is considered professional development, she will be reimbursed the total expense,” Snell said. “I found some information that supports the expense being a tax-free reimbursement.”
Kohn-Johnson confirmed that some council members didn’t know about the tuition payment until it was brought up by the public records request. There are a “lot of plans” in the immediate future to improvement communication with the council members, she said.
“You know, I understand that folks can look at this and associate it with some larger pattern,” she said. “It really isn’t. There’s not a scandal to be uncovered here.”
Reporter Dan Kane contributed to this report.
NC Reality Check is an N&O series holding those in power accountable and shining a light on public issues that affect the Triangle or North Carolina. Have a suggestion for a future story? Email realitycheck@newsobserver.com.
This story was originally published December 5, 2025 at 10:19 AM with the headline "Town of Cary paid for a council member’s tuition. Why she gave it back.."
