Good Intentions Might Be Too Expensive for Durham County

The best intentions of Durham Public Schools may soon collide with a difficult fiscal reality facing the Durham County Board of Commissioners.

On Tuesday, the DPS Board of Education held its quarterly meeting with commissioners, and Interim Superintendent Catty Moore made her pitch for a historic $27.7 million budget increase proposal that includes $8.8 million to try to mend fences with the district’s classified workers and $1.3 million in higher pay for district employees who hold master’s degrees, as well as funding for bonuses and other staff incentives.

“These are all needs beyond what our current existing budget supports,” Moore told commissioners. “Some of them are necessary to remain competitive for recruitment, and to honor work that was done through this commission in collaboration with this community that has not been achieved.”

But Durham County, where demands for services are growing with the population, has seen significant declines in sales tax revenues. The annual revenue projection is currently $18.8 million, while budget expansion drivers, such as the public schools, come in around $33.5 million.

“We’re resilient and we will plan accordingly, but it has made for a tough period of balancing the budget,” said Claudia Hager, deputy county manager.

County budget priorities, per County Manager Kimberly Sowell:

• Education-focused with DPS at the core.
• Supporting county employees.
• Maintaining county fiscal responsibility.
• Reallocating existing positions through supporting minimal new additions (primarily for Medicare and Medicaid support).
• Pausing departmental expansion.

County Commissioner Heidi Carter – a former DPS Board of Education leader herself – praised the “fairly bold” request from the school district, which now must be balanced against what Durham County can afford to spend.

“I appreciate the full ask and I want you to know this board wants to give as much as we can and we’re going to work hard to do that,” Carter said. “It is based on what we can afford and not on whether we think DPS is doing an amazing job, because we think you are, we think you are doing the best you can with what you have.”

County Commissioner Nimasheena Burns bristled that “some folks in this room” didn’t have conversations with county leaders about the “major financial snafu” – the botched implementation of a classified salary study that cost the chief financial officer, Paul LeSieur, and former Superintendent Pascal Mubenga, their jobs earlier this year.

Commissioner Brenda Howerton urged school district and county officials to work together to find a strategy to avoid these problems in the future.

“It cannot sustain DPS or the county the way we’re going right now,” Howerton said, “to put that burden on the citizens that have to pay their mortgage every year, senior citizens struggling with keeping their houses, and we keep increasing the tax rate.”

School Board Member Alexandra Valladares noted that the past five months have been “a lot.”

“Right now, in this moment, we have you,” she told commissioners. “You hold the purse. You hold the power in this equation. You have always been very receptive.”

Valladares acknowledged that DPS is asking for more than in the past, but “this is not an exaggeration. This is exactly what we need.”

After the meeting, DPS issued a statement attributed to Moore and School Board Chair Bettina Umstead:

“The Durham Public Schools Board of Education appreciates the Board of County Commissioners’ acknowledgement of our needs in public education. Our sincere and fervent hope is that we will all continue to advocate for the additional funds and support needed to ensure that our students and teachers are resourced with high quality academic support and safe, conducive learning and work facilities. We know that advocacy is a team sport, and our team comprises many players from the County to the state legislature. Our collaboration is critical to student success, and to our success as a district and county. We are all accountable for the win, that being our students’ success and our employee recruitment and retention. We welcome ongoing communication, collaboration, and dedication to the support of Durham students. It is incumbent upon all of us to invest our resources in public education, for it is here that all students regardless of race, creed, or origin, are given an equitable chance at success.”

The county budget timeline now follows:

• May 23: Budget work session.
• May 28: Budget public hearing.
• May 30, June 3 and 4: Budget work sessions (if needed).
• June 10: Final budget approval.