CHARLOTTE, N.C. — At Tuesday's Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education meeting with Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners, leaders with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools expressed the district was very early in the budget development process -- but district leaders are working on a plan to keep supporting students without COVID-19 funding.
Dissolving just over 700 jobs will be the largest impact of phasing out the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER).
About $60 million of the $190 million in funding is attached to these positions as well as air quality expenses, bonuses, out-of-school tutoring, professional development, supplies and software.
CMS is, however, already identifying some of the needs for the upcoming 2024-25 school year and the estimated costs.
This was presented to county commissioners.
Some of these needs included investing in school resource officers, salary and benefit increases for employees, teacher supplements and upgraded facilities and devices for students.
CMS Superintendent Crystal Hill reiterated that this a very rough draft and there are still a lot of steps before an official budget recommendation is ready to be presented. She said the district isn't looking for a budget expansion at this time.
"We’ve shared a lot of information here, we shared a lot of needs," Hill said. "Please understand that we are doing a lot of work in terms of clean up, alignment, realignment, and this at all does not represent in any way what a budget expansion request would look like, in terms of my recommendation to our board."
CMS has to make a budget recommendation by March 26 and the budget would be considered for approval on April 23.
Contact Destiny Richards at drichards5@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.