Wake approves $50M budget increase for school system

The Wake County Public School System will get a more than 8% boost to its county funding next year, following a vote Monday evening from the Wake County Board of Commissioners.

It represents an increase significant enough to raise pay amid some staffing shortages — particularly among bus drivers — and commissioners’ continued prioritizing of the school system while they argue the state isn’t providing enough funds.

“We can watch our public school system degrade as its starved for funds,” Commissioner Matt Calabria said Monday, or the county can raise its own funds. The county is already funding about a quarter of educator pay and nearly half of other employee pay, Calabria said. “Imagine if we didn’t do that.”

The county’s nearly $1.9 billion budget for next year — which runs from July 1 though June 30, 2024 — includes a tax increase.

Without a tax increase, County Manager David Ellis projected $53.5 million in new revenue next year for the county, less than what the school board was asking for. The 2.25-cent tax increase for the general fund would provide another $65 million, according to county projections. Another 1-cent tax increase would go toward school system and community college capital projects, which voters approved in 2022.

For the owner of a $400,000 home, the 3.25-cent overall increase next year would mean a $130-higher tax bill next year. The property tax rate would be $0.652 cents for every $100 of property value.

Commissioners cited higher use of county services and staffing issues, among other things, in proposing the budget Monday. No commissioners voted against it.

Commissioner James West admitted he once promised not to increase taxes, but he argued the state isn’t providing enough toward education.

“That puts us in a very awkward position to address the growth,” West said.

Commissioner Susan Evans said she’d hoped projected revenue would match the rising demands she was seeing from county departments.

“We’re in this inflationary period,” Evans said. “I really wish we wouldn’t have to increase taxes.”

The $50 million more for the school system will likely fund pay raises for employees, though it’s unclear so far what adjustments the school system may still make in response to a potentially new state budget for next year. Lawmakers from both chambers have proposed their own budgets and are negotiating on a final proposed budget.

The Wake County Public School System has a budget of well more than $2 billion, mostly funded by the state.

The school board asked commissioners for $5 million more than what commissioners agreed to. Later this month, the board must decide what of its plans for next year it will have to cancel.

That will likely be later this summer, Board Chairwoman Lindsay Mahaffey said after Monday’s vote. The board will need to discuss options with staff, she said, then await any possible changes in a new state budget.

The school board asked for $55.8 million more from the county, a more than 9% increase from $594.3 million this year to $650.1 million.

Just less than half of that — $25.8 million — would go toward employee compensation.

It would help fund a minimum pay increase to $17 per hour or a 4% raise for hourly workers — whichever is greater — and a 4.5% increase to the county’s supplement for certified, salaried workers. (The county provides a supplement to how much the state pays certified employees, in an effort to raise pay. The supplements for teachers range from about $6,400 to $12,600, depending on experience, and a 4.5% increase would provide a $290 to $570 raise for each teacher.)

Pay raises in the past two years have coincided with improved staffing rates for child nutrition services workers (from about 20% vacancies in fall 2021 to 7.6% vacancies in April) and instructional assistants (from about 10% vacancies in fall 2021 to 4.4% vacancies in April) but not for bus staff (from about one-fifth vacant in fall 2021 to about one-third vacant in April) or teachers (still above 2% vacancies).

The school board’s budget also asks for $12 million for maintenance, asks for $2 million for more school counselors and seeks $900,000 for instructional support technicians.

The school system is required to transfer a portion of its local funding to charter schools located in the county, which the system does not operate. That accounts for more than $5 million the requested budget increase.

School board members themselves will also be getting a pay raise. Pay will move up about $10,000 to about $30,000 annually. Mahaffey said the school board did not ask for a raise, and that the raise was not included in the board’s budget request. She said the proposal came from commissioners, who had asked the board if they would like to be included in raises. Commissioners voted to raise their own pay last year but not the pay of other boards.

The pay increase was not included in budget materials but was read aloud during the motion to approve the budget.

Ellis proposed a $40 million increase in funding for schools in his budget proposal May 1.

Last year, Ellis also proposed millions of dollars less for the school system, arguing many of the requests should be funded by the state instead. Commissioners ended up granting the school system nearly all of the increase the school board had requested.