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CMS reveals a billion-dollar budget with teacher raises, and COVID funds phasing out

This money funds the district's operating budget and is funded by both the state and county.

MECKLENBURG COUNTY, N.C. — The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools interim superintendent revealed a $2.2 billion budget recommendation Tuesday night.

This money is for the district's operating budget and is funded by both the state and county.

This year, the district plans to ask the Mecklenburg County Commission for $38.9 million more than it did last year to fund its portion. 

Credit: Courtesy CMS

"We took a look and asked a general question and said to people, 'We don't want you to think about money right now, we will ask a simple question, what systems and initiatives do we need to put in place to ensure the achievement of our goals and guardrails?'" Crystal Hill, CMS interim superintendent, said. 

The school board restructured how it governs itself in the last few years. It has a set of measurable action items and goals surrounding things like student achievement and test scores. 

Those goals inform what decisions the board makes and how funding is prioritized. 

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"This is a very light ask," Hill said. "But it is very critical ask. There is not one thing that's on this list that we can go without." 

Most of the additional requested money from the county is budgeted towards employees -- specifically its teachers. 

There are certain items the district must fund to maintain operations. They have labeled them must-do investments. It includes about $12.7 million that would go toward matching anticipated state raises for teachers and administrators -- plus increases to retirement fund contributions. 

Also on the required list is funding for school resource officers, student growth, and some facility work. 

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"Everything that happens, they start with people," Lenora Sanders-Shipp, a CMS board member, said. "So thank you for that powerful push on investing." 

What the district is calling essential investments, but not labeled "must-do", include raises to the teacher supplement, salary raises for staff that is not teachers or principals, and cybersecurity funding. 

The cost of living is also impacting teachers and a survey by the school showed employees said the district's current salaries aren’t enough. 

"I can't afford to live here," Beth Thompson, CMS's assistant superintendent of strategy management, said about teacher responses. "I want to teach, I can't take care of my children and live here. I can only teach if I have a spouse or significant other or partner so that we have dual-income households." 

What wasn't in the budget was about $4 million needed to prevent express bus stops from going into effect for some magnet programs. 

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"That may be an investment we can come in and possibly review again to see if it is worth it just helping out those families who may need the transportation to some of those magnet programs and make an exception," Dee Rankin, a CMS board member, said.

RELATED: Parents pushing back against CMS plans to start express buses

The stops consolidate several county-wide stops to centralized areas for a few thousand students in select magnet programs. Parents have spoken about the inequities and strain the express bus stops would cause. 

"If we are able to come up with the funding for the express stop, do we have the actual drivers to drive the bus to get to the magnet program? " Hill asked. "And when they show up do we have a high-quality teacher there to teach them?"

Hill said adding funding to prevent the express stops did not align with the district's current strategic needs. 

"When we ask the question, what processes and systems and initiatives do we need to put in place to achieve our goals and guardrails transportation did not rise to the level to answer that question," Hill said. "So that is why you do not see it listed in terms of our strategic investments."

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The district is also compensating for COVID-19 relief dollars to no longer be a factor in the budget. 

In the next school year, millions of dollars will no longer be available to use with one-time COVID dollars. The budget with the temporary COVID funds is $2.2 billion and without it is $1.9 billion. 

The district will continue to discuss changes to the budget, the board will vote on it, and then have a meeting with Mecklenburg County Commissioners, who will have the final say on the dollar amount given.

Contact Shamarria Morrison at smorrison@wcnc.com and follow her on FacebookTwitter and Instagram.

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