On Tuesday, the New Hanover County Board of Education met to approve a roughly $333-million proposed budget, which hinges to some extent on state and county funding decisions. The board also approved its legislative agenda, a set of requests for state lawmakers in Raleigh.
At the close of the meeting, Republican Chairman Pete Wildeboer announced that New Hanover County Schools had settled with the victims of former teacher Peter Michael Frank, with payments made by the district’s insurance carriers. Attorneys for the plaintiffs, who had represented other victims of Frank and former teacher Michael Earl Kelly, said the settlement would “bring to a close a painful and shameful era.”
Budget
The recommended budget was $333,379,367, just over a half-percent increase from last year’s budget, although the district is predicting fewer students in the coming year. The budget includes a request of over $110 million from New Hanover County.
Notably, the budget did not include the full amount that Superintendent Dr. Chris Barnes has said the school needs. Barnes opted not to request millions in additional funds, including nearly a million dollars for Pre-K that was cut last year.
For several years, the county had doubled its pre-K support, going from six to twelve classrooms, using federal Covid money. When that money expired, the Republican majority on the county Board of Commissioners returned the pre-K funding to pre-pandemic levels.
Republican school board member Josie Barnhart also noted that the city’s discontinuation of its controversial red-light camera program, which provided funding to the school district, had also tightened funding.
This year, both Republican and Democratic commissioners have agreed that restoring Pre-K funding is a priority — but there’s been some question about whether or not the school district had actually asked for the additional funding.
Barnes told the school board that he had been able to use federal Title One funding to bridge the gap last year when he found out, “sort of abruptly, we were down a million dollars for Pre-K.” Barnes said he wanted to take the same approach this year to help mitigate his ask for the county, because he was mindful of the “added burden on the taxpayer” that would come from the proposed $320-million school bond, if it passes in November. County staff estimate it will add roughly 1.75 cents per $100 of property value to the tax rate.
“Rather than go back and ask for that $960,000 [for Pre-K] back again, we allotted Title One carryover to cover again, because I wanted to make sure that we didn't burden the taxpayer twice,” Barnes said.
Democratic school board member Dr. Tim Merrick pushed Barnes, asking him to clarify if the district needed the money.
“If this was a courtroom, I would just want you to say, do you need that money? Right? Because I've been told by different county commissioners, they said, ‘well, Barnes didn't say he needed the money,’” Merrick said, “We need the money. Is that correct?”
Barnes said he’s been clear that the district is in ‘subsistence mode’ and needs millions more in funding — but that he’s trying to be mindful of taxpayers.
“What we are trying to do is to do a measured response. Do we need that extra $916,000? Sure, and I need an additional $5 million more. However, part of being good fiscal stewards of the money we're given is to be balanced.”
The county commissioners are still deep in the budget negotiation process, with two options recently put on the table. Although the Republican majority looks set to go with one that avoids a tax increase, both options include funding to meet the district at its ask and provide funding for the full 12 Pre-K classrooms.
The school district budget passed 6-1, with Barnhart dissenting. Barnhart told WHQR she objected to a new $25 technology fee.
“I do not believe we should charge a technology fee. I suggested we need to cut our technology and utilize a shared-use plan so schools can have access. We need less screen time in the classroom, especially with our younger kids,” Barnhart wrote in an email, adding, “I was grateful our budget reflected a closer match to state raises. I have advocated the percentage increase locally should mirror the state-level percentage increase.”
Libertarian board member David Perry also opposed the technology fee. He did ultimately vote in favor of the budget, but said he hoped the district could find funds to eliminate the fee, which he said was unfair for families.
Importantly, Barnes said, “I want to be clear that we can't trigger a raise for any employee until the state passes their own resolution on their own budget, which may mean that that may not occur in July. It just depends on when they pass a budget.”
The General Assembly has now gone over 10 months without passing a new budget; North Carolina is the only state in the nation that has failed to do so.
Legislative agenda
The school board also approved its legislative agenda for Raleigh. The agenda was sent back to committee last month after some board members asked for more specifics on the allotment formulas, which are how the general assembly funds school positions.
Ultimately, the committee produced a one-pager, which drills down on some specific positions.
Some more targeted asks include:
- A standalone allotment for Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) Coordinators
- Pre-K Expansion to provide equitable access to high-quality early learning
- Exceptional Children (EC) Weighted Funding Model to provide equitable, student-centered funding that enhances services and outcomes for students with diverse learning needs
- Significantly increase allotments for Instructional Support Personnel (counselors, social workers, and other support personnel)
- Expanded Education Lottery funding for school renovation and repair
- Increased teacher salaries for mid-career educators (15–24 Years of Experience)
- Supplement the federal Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) Meal Program with additional funding so that all students are offered free and nutritious meals regardless of financial need or which school they attend
- Calendar Flexibility to empower districts and families with balanced instructional schedules that better align with student needs, assessments, and family planning.
- Funding for the IBEC building (Isaac Bear Early College) building: the NHCS facility, currently located on UNCW property, has operated out of modular units for nearly 20 years. The current MOU to use the property is set to expire in the near future if construction doesn’t take place
- Compulsory attendance policies
Barnhart, who chairs the legislative committee, noted that there are two plans at the state level to address EC funding, one that would remove existing caps, and another that would create tiers for funding. Barnhart said, “It would basically balance out, so whether the state decides to remove the cap or completely shift to this tiered funding model, the funding would increase to that same amount.”
Barnes added, “We win, either way, with that.”
Merrick, who had expressed some concerns about the original version, thanked Barnhart for revisiting the plan, saying he was ready to support it. In particular, he said he was glad that universal free meals had been added.
His fellow Democrat Judy Justice said she was “not going to be as kind as my colleague.”
Justice added, “I think that ignoring the outrageously low allotments all across the board that we have in this document is heartbreaking. I think until reality is faced and we fight for what the teachers actually require, then it's not a true document. I know that part of this is, sadly — I shouldn't say this word — ‘political,’ but that's reality. So I'm not going to agree with this document because it's denying reality. We need so much more.”
The legislative priorities passed 6-1, with Justice dissenting.
Barnes said he planned to take the legislative agenda to Raleigh in a couple of weeks, along with students.
“My plan is to put it in every kid's hand who's going to be going with us, and they know what the talking points are,” he said.
Barnes acknowledged “we may not get where we want to go in one year or two years, “ but said, “I think we can all agree that it’s about moving the needle.”
Lawsuits settled
At the end of the meeting, Chairman Wildeboer noted briefly that the district had settled two lawsuits, which he identified as the “two final Jane Doe cases,” and listed their case numbers.
The suits represent three victims of Peter Michael Frank, a former Roland Grise Middle School band teacher, who was arrested in early 2020 on several felony charges, including indecent liberties with a child. Over the next year, three former female students filed lawsuits. In 2022, Frank was convicted of over a dozen charges and sentenced to at least 50 years in prison.
Wildeboer noted that no New Hanover County Schools funding had been used in the settlement because the district’s insurance carrier had paid out the money. According to the Rhine Law Firm and the Lea/Schultz Law Firm, who represented the victims, the case settled for $455,000.
The settlement is the last in a series stemming from sexual abuse committed by Frank and another teacher, Michael Earl Kelly, who was arrested in 2018. The following year, Kelly entered guilty pleas to 59 charges, including sexual exploitation of a minor, indecent liberties with a student, and indecent liberties with a child. He was sentenced to 17.6 to 31.25 years in prison.
In February, the NHCS closed out the Kelly civil case, after its insurance carriers paid out $640,000 to several victims. In 2023, the district’s insurance paid out $5.75 million in a related suit filed by survivors of Kelly’s abuse.
In a statement, the two law firms, which also represented plaintiffs in the Kelly civil cases, wrote that they hoped this marked the end of a “shameful period in New Hanover County Schools history,” stretching back decades.
“Our abiding hope is that the settlements in the Peter Frank case and for the final Kelly Plaintiffs bring an end to a shameful period in New Hanover County Schools history. Our clients exhibited tremendous courage in bringing these cases and holding their abusers and the school system accountable. If policies had been followed, these abusers would have been caught far earlier. These settlements are a reminder to the school system that this kind of grooming and abuse cannot — and will not — be tolerated here in New Hanover County,” they wrote in an email to WHQR.
