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Stay on the pulse of the decisions being made at meetings for Asheville City Council and Buncombe County Commission, with reports from BPR’s Laura Hackett.

Last night at Commission: Educators protest $4.7M cut to schools amid Helene financial fallout

Education advocates stand outside the Buncombe County offices ahead of Tuesday's meeting.
Laura Hackett
Education advocates stand outside the Buncombe County offices ahead of Tuesday's meeting.

Around 50 education advocates protested in the bitter cold ahead of Tuesday’s Buncombe County Commission meeting where officials voted to cut $4.7 million in local school funding.

School system leaders said they likely won’t need to cut staff or programs to deal with the curtailed funding but plan to draw money from reserves to bridge the gap this year.

The cuts are the county’s solution to a larger budget shortfall. Last week, the county projected up to a $25 million budget shortage as part of the fallout from Hurricane Helene, along with a slew of budget cuts to help balance the books.

In a 5-2 vote, commissioners cut $4.7 million from the Asheville City Schools and Buncombe County Schools budget. Martin Moore and Jennifer Horton voted against the cuts, though they did not propose an alternative budget plan.

Commissioner Drew Ball blamed the cascading financial damage caused by Hurricane Helene for his decision, which he said he didn’t want to make. This was a sentiment echoed by every commissioner who approved the cuts.

“At the end of the day, we can't spend money we don't have,” he said. “Our schools are our priorities. But they also have to reflect realities.”

The budget decrease for Buncombe County Schools and Asheville City Schools trims 4% of what the county allocated to them in June, $3.9 million and $718,000, respectively. There is one caveat to the cuts: if the county receives state or federal funds that can be used for education, then another amendment may be brought forward to restore funding to the school systems.

Government leaders have already announced a hiring freeze in county departments, reduced library hours, and made cuts to public health, social work and economic services – a total budget reduction of $17.6 million.

Like the schools, county leaders say they’ll have to dip into the government’s savings or fund balance for $2.4 million. This is on top of the $11 million the county drew from the fund balance earlier this year to balance its budget.

County Manager Avril Pinder said if Buncombe didn’t cut some money from education, the county would need to start laying off staff.

“I don't know any place else to go look at this point,” Pinder said.

Horton expressed disappointment that the county couldn’t find anywhere else to cut from.

“As a woman that has been homeless in Buncombe County, when I couldn't eat, my son ate,” she said. “I was raised that we take care of our children first. And that's all I have to say.”

READ MORE: Buncombe budget primer: How the county spends more than $600 million

Education advocates enter the Buncombe County office with signs.
Laura Hackett
Education advocates enter the Buncombe County office with signs.

A debate over how to use the fund balance 

During public comment, education advocate Joan Hoffman pushed the county to dip deeper into its fund balance to cover the difference.

“This underfunding is really unsustainable,” she said. “Your county fund balance is ‘traditionally used to cover unexpected losses of residue revenue during an emergency.’ How is Hurricane Helene not enough of an emergency to dip into this fund balance? What are you waiting for?” she said.

Kindergarten teacher Samantha Aycock emphasized that students need more resources right now, not less.

“I understand that Helene had a huge impact financially for the county but you cannot ask our schools and our students to bear that cost,” she said. “This is a critical emergency. We have to use the funds available.”

Commissioner Moore described the choice as frustrating.

“It literally is taking food out of one child's mouth to give to another when we make these calls sometimes,” he said.

Other commissioners and county staff said using more of the fund balance could be a financially risky move, as Buncombe’s reserves are already projected to drop below municipal budgeting standards, which could affect the county’s credit rating.

Finance Director Melissa Moore said that the county was placed on a credit “watch list” in October and that drawing deeper into the fund balance could jeopardize the county’s bond rating and ability to borrow money at a low interest rate.

“Our Triple AAA bond rating was upheld with a negative outlook,” she said, adding that creditors “have doubts on our financial recovery.”

Buncombe County Schools Superintendent Rob Jackson.
Screenshot from Buncombe County
Buncombe County Schools Superintendent Rob Jackson.

School budgets are on a razor’s edge too 

Ahead of the vote, superintendents and board chairs from Asheville City Schools and Buncombe County Schools spoke about how the budget cuts would impact their organizations.

Rob Jackson, Buncombe County superintendent, said that it’s too late in the school year to make substantial budget cuts and there are not enough vacancies for a hiring freeze to be effective.

“I don't know that there is a choice for Buncombe County Schools other than using our fund balance to get to the end of the year because we cannot decrease the number of staff members we have in our schools today because of what's going on in our communities,” he said, adding that “we just can't degrade our ability to serve our children.”

Asheville City Schools Superintendent Maggie Fehrman echoed these sentiments.

“The majority of our unspent funds is salary and benefits for our staff,” she said. “At the end of the day, yes, we can cut this 4% from our current budget but it will be extremely challenging and disruptive to our daily operations.”

Both superintendents said there’s no plan to lay off district employees, but staff reductions may be needed next year if funding levels are unchanged.

Jackson said that Buncombe’s fund balance has taken a lot of hits in the last year, including $8 million in so-far unreimbursed Hurricane Helene-related costs.

The school system expects additional reimbursements, Jackson said, but that could take multiple budget cycles.

Already, the school district is using $6 million from its fund balance to balance the books. At the end of fiscal year 2024, the fund balance was at $19 million. Now it’s at $11 million, Jackson said.

With far less reserves — and an anticipated $1.8 million decrease in state funding — Buncombe Schools will likely need to make staff reductions for the 2025-26 school year, Jackson said.

“We just won't have the fund balance available to continue on our plan,” he said. “So we may have to accelerate position cuts in the summer for the following school year. But to finish this year, we would be able to utilize fund balance.”

Education funding a constant challenge in Buncombe 

Education is one of the county’s largest annual expenditures and one of the county’s biggest budgetary woes. During June’s budget vote, Commissioner Al Whitesides described the funding situation as “untenable” and has often called for a multi-year budget planning approach when it comes to the school system.

Commissioners frequently express frustration with the state government for not funding public education adequately. The money that the county provides local school systems is supplemental to what schools receive from the state.

In the original 2025 budget, education was allocated $129 million or 20% of the county’s $628 million budget. The county had to raise property taxes to make the numbers work.

The cost of education has increased by more than 25% since 2022, according to the county. Buncombe has increased its allocation to the two school systems by 36% over the last five years while student enrollment has dropped around 7%, county statistics show.

North Carolina ranks at the bottom for public education funding, according to a study from the Education Law Center.

Other tidbits

  • Commissioners green-lit zoning changes for a 10-acre plot of land near New Leicester Highway. The land was rezoned from residential to commercial. 
  • More money is headed to Buncombe’s rental assistance program. Earlier this year, Asheville City Council allocated $624,000 in federal funds for Buncombe County to distribute to low-income renters in need of assistance. Commissioners voted to accept those funds, earmarking 10%, or $62,400 for administrative fees.

Every first and third Tuesday, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners meets at 200 College St., Room 326, in downtown Asheville beginning at 5 p.m. See the full recording and agenda of the Jan. 21 meeting.

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Laura Hackett joined Blue Ridge Public Radio in June 2023. Originally from Florida, she moved to Asheville more than six years ago and in that time has worked as a writer, journalist, and content creator for organizations like AVLtoday, Mountain Xpress, and the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce. She has a degree in creative writing from Florida Southern College, and in 2023, she completed the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY's Product Immersion for Small Newsrooms program. In her free time, she loves exploring the city by bike, testing out new restaurants, and hanging out with her dog Iroh at French Broad River Park.
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