Pender County Schools adopted its new annual budget during a Monday night meeting; that's for the fiscal year starting in July. The board of education had little to say about the resolution, but according to chief financial officer Lisa Nowlin, there are still a few things parents and staff need to know.
First, the basics: the 2024-2025 budget comes to $147 million. Pender County issued a 4% raise for all classified employees (meaning bus drivers, custodians, and other staff.) The raises for certified employees — teachers and administrators — vary. Pender County also increased the retirement rate and hospitalization rate.
But the changes lie in the details. There's been much ado about Pender County Schools' growth over the years, with county officials preparing for larger and larger student populations. But according to Nowlin, the student growth rate fell a little short of this year's projections. The county's average daily membership — which is the metric they use to calculate total student population — was 10,787 this year. Their expected average daily membership was 11,468.
That's just one of the several things contributing to a $1.8 million budget reversion. Since Pender County Schools didn't use that money, they had to return it to federal and state agencies. But a lower-than-anticipated student population also means PCS might not need as much money this next year.
There's another major shift coming with this budget. Since the pandemic began, the state of North Carolina has helped secure federal money for public schools through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, or ESSER fund. North Carolina has distributed about $3.6 billion to school districts through ESSER. In Pender County, that funding was used to hire nurses and guidance counselors.
But that program is ending soon. Nowlin told WHQR that Pender County Schools will be able to take advantage of the program until September 30. After it ends, they'll have to figure out other ways to pay for the resources that ESSER has funded for the last several years — or make cuts.
"We're gonna have a little bit more detailed discussions about how to sustain that moving forward," Nowlin said. "But for PCS, we were in a position where we were very strategic on how to use those dollars, because we knew they were going away […] I think that, through our zero-based budgeting plan for the upcoming year, we'll be able to find enough savings there to not require additional [tax] increases for that purpose. And I want to be very specific about that."
PCS drafted this budget under challenging circumstances.
"We started a little bit behind with the [state] budget being passed late," said Nowlin. "And you know, you're kind of in the dark with what you can do as a whole budget."
But Nowlin said that drafting school budgets without assurance from the state legislature isn't super unusual in North Carolina. To deal with it, she had to rely on past budgets and estimates to figure out what funding the district would need in the coming years. PCS officials also sought out input from every school principal during the drafting process, asking them what worked and what needed improvement.
The board of education voted 3 to 2 to pass the budget last night, which means it's now in effect. The split vote represented issues with other items on the consent agenda — not the budget itself.
Even with changes coming, Nowlin is confident that Pender County will be able to manage.
"I think we're going to be in a better place than most districts," Nowlin said.
