NC schools and universities want lawmakers to give them $350 million for COVID costs
North Carolina’s K-12 and higher education leaders asked state lawmakers Tuesday for $350 million in additional funding to deal with coronavirus needs now that schools are in back in session.
The state’s K-12 public schools, community colleges, UNC System and independent colleges all say that the coronavirus pandemic has led to additional costs that they hope the General Assembly will fund. State lawmakers are expected to discuss additional coronavirus relief spending when they return to Raleigh next week.
State lawmakers approved relief packages using federal CARES Act funding in the spring. Legislative researchers say that the state has between $552.4 million and $903.9 million in CARES money left to spend on education and other state needs.
“This is a very complex, very fast-moving issue,” said Rep. John Fraley, a Republican from Mooresville and co-chairman of the House COVID-19 Education Working Group. “It’s also a very expensive issue that also gets put in the overall mix with things the state needs from a health care standpoint, from an economic development standpoint and a local government standpoint that are all impacted by the COVID virus.”
Schools want money for PPE, Internet connectivity
Speakers made their pitches Tuesday to lawmakers to use a combination of CARES funds and state money:
▪ The State Board of Education and the state Department of Public Instruction want $122.4 million.
▪ The UNC System wants $100 million in “flexible funding” that it can spend “to meet evolving needs.”
▪ The N.C. Community College System wants $76.6 million.
▪ The N.C. Independent Colleges and Universities want $51 million.
Much of the money would be used for things such as buying additional personal protective equipment such as face coverings and hand sanitizers. But the requests cover other things such as helping students get connected to the Internet and providing financial aid to attend college.
Part of the State Board of Education’s request includes $1 million to join a SpaceX pilot program using the company’s low-orbiting satellites to provide Internet access to hard-to-reach areas.
Colleges deal with COVID-19 outbreaks
The majority of the state’s K-12 public schools started the school year last week with online classes. But many colleges and universities began with some face-to-face classes.
Since then, UNC-Chapel Hill, N.C. State and East Carolina University have switched to online classes because they’ve had multiple COVID-19 outbreaks. UNC-Charlotte is delaying in-person classes until October in hopes that coronavirus trends will lessen in Mecklenburg County.
Jennifer Haygood, UNC System senior vice president for finance and administration, said they remain committed to providing in-person classes where it’s safe to do so. She said it’s “regrettable” that UNC-Chapel Hill, N.C. State and ECU had to abandon in-person classes.
“We are making sure that the lessons learned on those campuses are shared with chancellors of the other campuses so that we hope we can learn from those experiences and help prevent having to shift additional coursework,” Haygood said.
“Off-campus activity is where we continue to have challenges,” Haygood said for controlling COVID-19 cases. She said that schools are developing enforcement strategies, including reminding students that they will be held accountable for off-campus violations of Gov. Roy Cooper’s executive orders.
Hope Williams, president of the N.C. Independent Colleges and Universities said she disagreed with a recent News & Observer editorial that calls for sending all college students home. She said all of their colleges have fewer than 25 positive COVID cases among students and staff.
“We believe that we are doing the right things,” Williams told lawmakers. “We obviously know that things can change quickly, but we believe it is both the responsibility and the right of the institutions to be able to decide what that change should be and if that change should be made.”
K-12 students at risk
Concerns were raised Tuesday about how the pandemic has impacted the learning of the state’s 1.5 million public school students. Many students haven’t had face-to-face classes since schools were initially closed in mid-March for in-person instruction.
“COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on our public school system, and particularly on our students,” said state board chairman Eric Davis. “Its effects stem across a wide spectrum: academically, emotionally, mentally and will endure for many years.”
Rep. Craig Horn, a Union County Republican and committee co-chairman, said students “lost a year of education progress already” due to the pandemic. He said it will be “a challenge for the ages” to help close the gap.
“We’ve got to be able to target the kids who need the help and deliver an education directly to them,” Horn said.
In addition to asking for more money, the state board wants changes in state law so that school districts don’t lose funding if enrollment drops this fall. State funding for schools as well as salaries for principals are tied to the number of students they have in the first two months of the school year.
“Many of our districts are financially fragile and and facing further stress in the difficulty in counting our students,” Davis said.
Rep. Pat Hurley, a Republican from Randolph County, said local school leaders have asked that funding not be cut because they could get an influx of students later in the school year leaving private schools and home-schools.
This story was originally published August 25, 2020 at 12:42 PM with the headline "NC schools and universities want lawmakers to give them $350 million for COVID costs."
