WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — New Hanover County Commissioners held their first budget review meeting Monday afternoon as they began working on the budget for Fiscal Year 2024-25.
The New Hanover County School Board has also begun working on its budget, which is expected to have a $20 million shortfall.
Around $10 million of that shortfall is from a loss of federal COVID relief funds, while another $10 million is from salary increases and benefits.
The shortfall could result in hundreds of jobs being cut, from teachers and social workers to nurses and mental health therapists.
County Commissioner Jonathan Barfield said he’s confident education will continue to be an important part of the county’s funding.
“The county has traditionally and always funded above and beyond what the state says,” Barfield said. “Again, roughly 700 plus positions beyond what the state mandates, we have in our school system. Which means we have definitely invested in public education. But looking at what’s been predicted as a shortfall, we don’t know what the numbers are. The school board has not, number 1, finalized their numbers nor have they come to our board of commissioners to make their request.”
Funding for the school district takes up the largest portion of the county’s yearly budget, accounting for nearly 1/3 last year.
“We don’t have any numbers from the school board yet in terms of what their needs are. And once we get those numbers, we can have a real conversation about how do we fund the school board’s needs.”
In addition to positions, funds from the American Rescue COVID Stimulus Plan are ending this year, which will cause several programs to come to an end unless the county includes funding in its budget.
Those programs include school mental health expansion, pre-K expansion, and “Too Good for Violence,” a bullying prevention program.
The funding will end on June 30th, and would cost just over $3 million to fund until December 31st, 2024.
School board member Hugh McManus said it’s important to include the schools themselves in the process.
“We’ve got to prioritize,” McManus said. “But I think we need to involve the administration in each school to help us prioritize. So it’s not just the board that says school x or school z is going to lose whatever. We need to involve them at some point.”