Asking the legislature to increase exceptional children funding
One specific ask will be to lift the $5,593 per-student cap on EC funding.
Assistant Superintendent Julie Varnam said the current formula does not account for individual student needs and is based solely on headcount. She cited an example: 30 of the most vulnerable EC students cost the district $1.4 million this school year. There are nearly 3,300 EC students in the district. Roughly 100 EC students receive no state funding, at a cost of over half a million dollars ($564,927).
Varnam said that at the current funding rate from both federal and state governments, the district is falling short of the Congressional mandate to serve students with disabilities.
She argued that since 1975, Congress has failed to fund the Individuals with Disabilities Act at the level it promised — 40%. Varnam said the most recent level the federal government funded was at 13%.
As for the state, she added that as the former president of the council for administrators of special education in North Carolina she took part in the creation of the proposal to change the EC funding formula from a flat rate to a weighted one and that she was “sad to say” that those recommendations weren’t taken up by the legislature from about five years ago.
It’s a much larger financial problem
Republican Pat Bradford said she wanted to focus her advocacy on removing or “popping the cap” on how EC students are funded. In response, Superintendent Dr. Christopher Barnes said the funding issues extend beyond that, noting that North Carolina’s per-student funding is significantly less than that of many other states.
“My concern is that removing the cap doesn't solve the problem. The problem is that our schools are not funded at the place where they need to be. [...] When I was a high school principal, the formulas and the funding was the same as it was a decade ago,” he said.
Barnes cited the Education Law Center’s 2025 “Making the Grade” report, which found a national average of $17,853 per student, and noted that North Carolina has an average of $12,193. The North Carolina Association of Educators capitalized on the findings, highlighting that the state ranks “dead last” for public school funding. However, the Center did rate funding distribution better in that, on average, low-income districts receive more financial support than wealthier ones.
Nonetheless, Barnes walked the public through what it would mean for the district if it were funded at the national average, using 24,000 as the overall NHCS student population.
“$136 million dollars — that is not to put us as the highest state in the nation. That's to bring us to the national average. $136 million more would take care of our EC problem. It would take care of our academic concerns. It would take care of some of our behavioral concerns. These are the things that we need to advocate for,” he said.
Barnes added he hopes to continue advocating for increased funding — for example, possibly taking students again to visit representatives in the spring.
Democrat Tim Merrick, who is running for NC House District 20 this year, said the Opportunity Scholarship program draws away money that could go to the district’s exceptional children.
“I don't want to skip the opportunity to remind the public that when we give vouchers to private schools, [it takes] that money away from our public schools. Now these private schools are not under any commitment to take care of these children. We have to do it,” he said.
His Democratic colleague Judy Justice, who is running for New Hanover County commissioner this year, agreed, but was briefly interrupted by Republican Josie Barnhart, who raised a point of order.
“This is purely political. It's a decision that our leaders…” Justice said.
“Mr. Chair, point of order…” Barnhart said. She later told WHQR she was objecting to "speaking in regards to people's motives," although her point was never ruled on by the chair.
Justice continued, “This is just a fact. So we, in general, not just us, but our community, needs to pressure them to look at what's needed for these kids.”
Teachers starting to organize?
Findings from the Education Law Center have prompted public school teachers across the state to stay home on Wednesday, using their personal leave.
Related: Teachers at dozens of NC schools could walk out Wednesday (WFAE)
Wake County school teacher Jennilee Lloyd of NC Teachers in Action told WHQR in December that some NHCS staff members said they might do so.
“Educators are feeling it in our budgets, and yet it's the students, it's trickling down to them. They're in schools right now that are crumbling and falling apart because they can't pass Leandro, and there's no funding, and teachers are leaving because they can't afford it, or it's draining, and they're burned out,” she said.
The Raleigh News and Observer reports that, according to the NC Teacher in Action Network, 15 NHCS schools participated in today's walkout. The total number of participating teachers in the district wasn't reported.
The state legislature has not yet passed a budget.
Lloyd said this is the start of something she and her group want to continue, scheduling 'walkouts' on the 7th of every month to draw attention to the issues affecting public educators until April 7, when the legislature is scheduled to reconvene.
In November, WHQR reported that NHCS was beginning to see some of this, noting they had to issue a call through their substitute system to ensure the schools were adequately staffed. However, Barnes said most were for those days.
Changes to NHCS board transparency, social media policy
After several prior debates, the board unanimously agreed to require that all documents be uploaded to the public-facing website the morning before its agenda review meeting. Previously, the public couldn’t view the documents the board discussed in these meetings.
Merrick said this was a big step forward for transparency, noting that “we’ve all run on it.” Republican David Perry agreed that this didn’t add any additional work for staff; however, Barnes said to give them grace in labeling whether the documents are drafts or at a specific version number.
The board also discussed the differences between their personal social media accounts and an official board member account via Policy 2127 – Board Member Technology Use.
A proposed change would have added the following language to the policy, "Board members should not utilize school system or individual school names, logos, or trademarks on personal social media in such a manner that could be construed as a political endorsement."
For example, if a board member were to take a photo in front of one of the district's high school, or while wearing a school-logo t-shirt, it could be construed as if the board member was implying that campus supported their policy positions (or, if they were running for office, their campaign).
Perry said he didn't see the need for any changes to the policy, noting that he felt he prevented any issues by labeling his posts with disclaimers that they are his personal opinion and that he doesn’t speak for the board.
Republican Melissa Mason said she was concerned that the policy applied to personal social media accounts, citing state school board association guidance that those shouldn't be held to the same expectations as official board member or campaign accounts. She said she worried that someone could misconstrue or misrepresent something posted about personal accounts simply because someone didn't like the person posting.
Merrick also expressed concern about who would interpret and enforce rules against "political intent."
“That's a very gray area. We have a hard enough time following our policies, as it is sometimes, and when they're vague, it's pointless to have one, because it cannot be enforced,” he said. Merrick suggested sending the policy back to committee, but that didn't happen.
Ultimately, the board voted 6-1 to keep the original policy and not add the updated language. Merrick was the dissenting vote; he later told WHQR he supported part of the policy language that would have prevented the "use of school logos as de facto campaign endorsements."
While the district's policy won't change, Republican Chair Pete did note that five of the current board members are campaigning this year (either for reelection or for other offices), and asked them to consider a question before posting online or speaking in an interview: "Will this help our students or staff in any way, or will it hurt the positive progress of New Hanover County Schools?"
