A possible merger between Asheville City Schools and Buncombe County Schools has been floated for decades. But a feasibility study to examine the pros and cons could bring the issue into sharper focus for the two school districts.
In a rare joint meeting, elected officials from Asheville City Schools, Buncombe County Schools and the Buncombe County Board of Commission met last week at Harrah’s Cherokee Center. Leaders touched on the topic of school consolidation in a wide-ranging meeting focused on long-term priorities.
In a presentation, Maggie Fehrman, superintendent for Asheville City Schools, listed consolidation as one of several “threats in K-12 education for the next five years” but then quickly walked back the wording.
“The consolidation study I think is another threat – that is not necessarily a threat – but it's taking up a lot of resources as we are trying to get school launched and on the ground,” she said. “We have a limited number of staff and we are constantly working on providing information and participating in interviews and we are happy to do it. But it does drain resources from other areas.”
Rob Jackson, superintendent for Buncombe County Schools, spoke around the issue.
“Buncombe County is blessed to have two amazing school systems who are working really hard to pour into the lives of students,” he said. “Great teachers of both school systems are giving deeply of themselves and we're quite blessed.”
In September, legislators passed a bill that mandated the two school systems to conduct a merger feasibility study and present its findings early next year. Buncombe County government opted to take the lead on the study and hired a consultant last October. The county also ended up gettting stuck with the bill for the consultant.
At least some county commissioners have alluded to budgetary strains and say considering a merger of the districts could shave costs.
Sarah Thornburg, a member of the Asheville City Schools Board, said she doesn’t want a merger to happen simply for the sake of finances.
“I can tell the only reason that we have been asked to study consolidation is to save money. I have not heard of any other really useful purpose,” she said. “But the focus ought to be on how what we do provides value. And if it takes two separate school systems to do that. That’s what it takes. And it’s valuable and it’s worth it.”
Ann Franklin, the board chair of Buncombe County Schools, asserted that consolidation would not necessarily cut costs.
“We really don't have any proof that consolidation would save money,” Franklin said. “So let's take it off the table and get to the things that really could benefit us or not.”
When county Commissioner Al Whitesides began to discuss the ins and outs of mergers, Franklin interrupted him.
“I have a burning issue. Everybody's talking about money,” she said. “But I would like for us to focus on preschool for all of our students in Buncombe County.”
Public schools facing a major funding dilemma
Money is a difficult thing to ignore, considering Buncombe County government funds a significant portion of the budget for Asheville City Schools, Buncombe County Schools and A-B Tech.
As state funding has declined for schools over the last decade, Buncombe has been forced to stretch its budget to foot the bill. It allocated more than $129 million, or 20%, of its $628 million budget on education for the upcoming fiscal year. And despite raising property taxes by nearly two cents, the county still fell $13 million short on funding requests from both school systems during this year’s budget process.
Public school funding could be further reduced if the General Assembly votes forward Senate Bill 406/House Bill 823 to expand its Opportunity Scholarship program. If passed, the bill would allocate around $463 million to private school vouchers over the next two years, EdNC reported.
An impact study commissioned by the state found that Buncombe County would lose $5.5 million, or 3% of its state funding, if the voucher program was expanded.
The cost of education has risen over the last few years, increasing by more than 25% since 2022, according to the county. Over the last two years, the county has increased its education spending by 27%.
‘We can’t depend on the state’
Historically, Whitesides, who previously served on the Asheville City Schools board for eight years, has supported the idea of a merger. At Thursday’s meeting, he said he doesn’t want to keep raising taxes each year to pay for schools.
“We can’t forget about people locally who are paying these bills,” he said. “We pay [$129 million] locally for our school system... that’s not pennies. We’ve got to do a better job in planning.”
He continued, “We’ve got to operate smarter than what we're doing. When I see we have almost a thousand employees on the local payroll from both systems. Folks, you got to remember, we have to pay those salaries. We have to pay for their retirement, hospitalization and all.”
Commissioner Amanda Edwards said that education leaders need to “keep the pressure on the General Assembly” and continue advocating for more state funding.
“Residents across Buncombe County are being taxed twice for public education. Once for Raleigh who are not funding it and then we are, as Commissioner Whitesides said, having to increase property taxes on our local residents to fill the gap for what is not happening in Raleigh,” she said.
“We have to speak the language of our legislators in Raleigh. Continuing to double tax our residents for something that [the state is] constitutionally mandated to do is something that we need to keep at the forefront of the conversation.”
Whitesides said the county “can’t depend on the state.”
Local senators pushed the merger study
N.C. Senators Warren Daniel and Julie Mayfield are the force behind the feasibility study.
In 2023, Daniel and Mayfield collaborated on a section of House Bill 142 that forced Buncombe County to commission a merger feasibility study. The legislature did not commit to paying for the study, however, which left county commission members disgruntled. The county tapped the Charlotte-based Prismatic Services, Inc. to conduct the nine-month study for $301,543.
In an email, Daniel told BPR that both he and Mayfield “want to see the study results to see what makes the most sense financially, educationally, and socially for the two school systems.”
“While I personally think it probably makes sense to consolidate the two systems into one, I would like to see the results of the study and review its recommendations before coming to a conclusion,” he said.
Mayfield confirmed her involvement in an email with BPR.
“I'm interested in the study because I have people talking to me all the time who feel strongly that the systems must merge or should not merge,” she wrote. “The truth is that no one knows what is best or what the impacts would be. We mandated the study so everyone could know the pros, cons and impacts of merging. Only then can we have an educated conversation about whether the systems should merge.
This isn’t the city and county’s first rodeo with a feasibility study. Since the 1960s, there have been at least ten studies commissioned on the topic, Asheville Watchdog reported.
Public input sessions kick off in September
Prismatic Services has assembled a 24-member project team, including representatives of county government and both school systems, to conduct the study.
As part of its process, Prismatic is hosting a series of nine drop-in meetings throughout September to gather community feedback.
Meetings will take place on the following days:
- Monday, Sept. 9, 3:45-6:30 p.m., at Owen Middle, 730 Old US Hwy 60, Swannanoa
- Tuesday, Sept. 10, 3:45-6:30 p.m., at East Asheville Library, 3 Avon Rd.
- Thursday, Sept. 12, 3:45-6:30 p.m., at Cane Creek Middle, 570 Lower Brush Creek Rd., Fletcher
- Friday, Sept. 13, 11:30 a.m.-2:15 p.m., Weaverville Community Center, 60 Lakeshore Dr., Weaverville
- Monday, Sept. 16, 3:45-6:45 p.m., Isaac Dickson Elementary, 125 Hill St., Asheville
- Tuesday, Sept. 17, 3:30-6:30 p.m., Erwin High, 60 Lees Creek Rd., Asheville
- Wednesday, Sept. 18, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Enka Intermediate, 125 Asheville Commerce Pkwy., Candler
- Thursday, Sept. 19, 3:45-6:30 p.m., Hall Fletcher Elementary, 60 Ridgelawn Rd., Asheville
- Friday, Sept. 20, 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m., Skyland/South Buncombe Library, 260 Overlook Rd., Asheville
- Monday, Sept. 23, 5:30-7:30 p.m., Online forum, details TBD
Prismatic will submit its final report to the county in December. The law requires the county to share results and recommendations with the General Assembly no later than February.
