Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools freezes jobs, reassigns staff to close $5M shortfall
The Chapel Hill-Carrboro school board made a tough decision Wednesday to freeze mental health specialists, support staff and other key positions by the end of this upcoming school year to save millions of dollars.
The split 4-3 vote approved the third phase of a three-part plan to cut $5.2 million from the district’s operating budget and close a shortfall that has been growing for several years. The plan relies on freezing current and future vacant positions and reassigning other staff to new jobs, some with less pay, in the district.
Board members Rani Dasi, Vickie Feaster Fornville and Barbara Fedders opposed the decision
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“My concern is, is that impact going to be felt by the most vulnerable and most marginalized kids, and are those students going to have to continue to bear the burden of who didn’t decide to be fiscally responsible 20 years ago, 30 years ago, or 10 years ago,” Feaster Fornville said.
It’s “not going to be comfortable,” board Vice Chair Riza Jenkins said, but there is no alternative.
State law requires the school board to have a balanced budget, district attorney Eva Debuisson said. The alternative is “there will come a time when checks would bounce,” Dubuisson said.
That could spark a takeover of the district, Jenkins added.
“We’re at a point where we have the opportunity to make decisions financially and get us on a better path. Right now, we’re in the driver’s seat,” she said.
The plan approved Wednesday will only allow the district to break even, and there will be more tough decisions in the future, district officials emphasized.
Budget warnings led to savings plan
The first phase of the plan, implemented earlier this year, froze just over 33 positions, including elementary school instructional assistants, physical education teachers and high school office support staff.
On Friday and again on Monday, district and school administrator met with over 60 additional staff facing immediate reassignment or whose positions could be phased out by June 2025. Another 15 positions are already vacant and will be frozen.
Additional savings will come from limiting extra-duty pay for activities and co-curricular roles and cutting one month’s pay for most assistant principals and counselors.
“This is certainly a challenging time for our district,” Superintendent Nyah Hamlett said. “We recognize that this impacts people — this impacts real life in our classrooms across our district — and so this is something that we do not take lightly.”
The budget shortfall is not a surprise for board members or the Orange County Board of Commissioners, who were warned earlier this year — and in previous budget discussions — that the situation was becoming more serious.
The commissioners have increased the county’s per-student funding for the city and Orange County Schools districts each year, but have also encouraged the districts to spend more of their fund balance, or savings.
Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools implemented a corrective action plan in the spring that froze 32 of 34 identified positions as employees retired or left the district, saving roughly $2.4 million.
But the costs have continued to grow, and the district now finds itself deeper in the hole.
“The burden of funding public education has shifted more and more to us locally vs. at the state,” Jenkins said. “Also the state allots below what schools need, even below what research and instructional best practices indicate, and that is that we need the presence of more student-facing roles, teacher assistants, more language teachers, and funding positions for the whole child, such as mental health specialists, at the state level, of course.”
Why is the district facing budget problems?
▪ Enrollment: A steady decline in students reduced the money that Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools get from the county, state and federal governments on a per-student basis.
▪ Staffing: The district has not cut its staffing as enrollment has fallen. Roughly 85% of the district’s budget funds personnel.
▪ State funding: Funding per student has increased — from $9,865 in 2019 to $12,636 in 2023 — but has not kept pace with rising inflation, which affects each school’s operational costs.
▪ Ranking: North Carolina ranked 48th in the nation for its per-student spending in 2021, receiving a grade “F” from the Education Law Center’s 2023 Making the Grade report.
Which positions are targeted?
▪ Central Office: 24 positions, including 13 that are vacant
▪ Districtwide: 11 positions at elementary, middle and high school levels
▪ Elementary schools: 30 positions
▪ Middle and high schools: 16 positions
How many people could lose their jobs?
▪ The plan is to avoid layoffs and minimize the disruption in schools and classrooms, distrrict officials said.
▪ Some positions are vacant, and others will be eliminated or frozen as employees retire or leave the district.
▪ Remaining employees will be reassigned to another position in the district.
▪ Changes would be permanent in the 2025-26 school year, which starts in August 2025.
▪ Employees can appeal the decision about their position in early September.
Key facts to know
▪ Enrollment: After adding students for years, CHCCS’s enrollment fell from 12,296 in 2019 to just over 11,000 this year. The district gets less local and state money when it’s enrollment falls, but it has not cut positions to reflect the loss of students, staff said.
▪ Shortfall: Since 2020, the district’s budget shortfall grew from $120,233 in 2021 to nearly $5.6 million in 2024. Roughly 85% of the district’s budget pays for personnel.
▪ Savings: The district has used its unallocated fund balance to close the gap in previous years, but the only money remaining is what the county requires the district to save for emergencies.
▪ Local spending: Orange County is spending $5,666 for each student this year, on top of the state’s allocation.
▪ Total local budget: Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools gets $63.1 million from the county, plus about $30 million from a special district property tax.
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 August 16, 2024 at 2:36 PM with the headline "Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools freezes jobs, reassigns staff to close $5M shortfall."
