Durham Public Schools leaders recently revealed that the district is $7 million over budget. At a school board meeting Tuesday and a press conference on Friday, Superintendent Anthony Lewis and members of the DPS administration shared more information about the budget errors.
Here’s what Lewis and his team are saying about the budget shortfall.
How did the district end up $7 million over budget?
DPS officials have laid out nine main items that were underestimated, or entirely left out, of the district’s 2024-2025 budget. These include:
- $18.6 million for 315 staff positions that were not included in the budget (a larger figure of $21.1 million, shared by the district last week, included some staff vacancies),
- $9.7 million for charter school payments,
- $3 million to cover child nutrition losses,
- $1.3 million for classroom teacher’s master’s pay,
- $1.04 million for utilities and waste management costs,
- $572,000 for arts supplements,
- $145,000 for bus driver attendance bonuses,
- $139,000 for insurance coverage, and
- $19,016 for mileage reimbursements for teachers serving homebound and hospitalized students.
Altogether, DPS chalked up nearly $34 million in expenses that were omitted from its $691 million yearly budget. Luckily, former Interim Superintendent Catty Moore had recommended withholding a 15% reserve from local operating budgets — a total of $26.4 million — during the administrative transition. That amount, combined with $1.1 million in extra funding from the state (which under-projected DPS’ enrollment by 119 students), allowed the district to bring the shortfall down to about $7 million.
Where did the $27.4 million funding increase from the county go?
Last June, the Durham county commissioners approved a historic $27.4 funding increase for Durham Public Schools.
At Tuesday night’s meeting, the school system’s new Chief Finance Officer Jeremy Teetor, who joined the district in November, outlined where the county funds went:
- $4.3 million to charter schools
- $5.7 million for state-mandated salary and benefit increases
- $4.5 million for a teacher supplement increase
- $1.3 million for pay for employees with master’s degrees
- $8.9 million to implement new salaries
- $2 million capital outlay
- $716,624 for Pre-K
What’s going on with child nutrition?
Child nutrition has been top of mind for DPS as of late. This year, the district introduced new menu choices that are locally sourced and low on artificial ingredients. The district also opted into the federal Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) program, which provides free breakfast and lunch to all students regardless of their socioeconomic status.
According to Teetor, child nutrition has been losing money since 2022. He attributed that loss to increases in production costs.
“Our child nutrition program at this point has exhausted their ability to cover those losses…,” Teetor said. “And so I’ve recommended to the superintendent that we reserve $3 million of local funds so that we keep them from going into the negative this year and to keep things as they are while we evaluate how can we continue to do the creative things we’ve been doing for students but in a way that we can handle the production costs.”
Teeter also said that the losses are not connected to the new federal CEP program.
“That is not a component in this $3 million concern,” Teetor said during Tuesday’s meeting. “And so we’ll conduct a separate analysis on has the participation been sufficient to support that change to a more broad CEP program in the district.”
What’s going on with DPS staff salaries?
During Tuesday’s meeting, DPS physical therapist Christie Clem asked the board about the money spent to implement new salary schedules for the district’s classified staff. Classified staff refers to school system workers who are not certified classroom teachers, such as physical therapists, instructional assistants, and transportation workers.
“Classified want to know how was the $8.8 million spent?” Clem asked.
After last year’s classified staff pay debacle, the district spent almost $8.9 million to implement new salaries based on three different factors: salary recommendations developed last March by consultant Kerry Crutchfield and again this fall by consultant and “Giver of Awesomeness™” Eyrie Success, as well as a three percent salary raise from the state.
Teetor said that before he joined DPS, administrative staff were tasked with comparing the three factors to figure out “what was the best for each employee.”
Yet Clem said the raises were subpar.
“So many classified folks I talked to got nothing more than the three percent,” Clem said Tuesday. “And the newest salary schedules we look at are compressed more than they ever were before any of this stuff started last year.”
Also, while $1.3 million of the county funding was spent on master’s pay for classroom teachers, school social workers say they have not received master’s pay.
“68 days,” school social worker J.B. Hallan said. “It has been 68 days since Dr. Lewis said ‘We will deliver,’ when talking about master’s pay for school social workers and other support staff….”
“By continuing to deny school social workers master’s pay, and other support staff, you are telling us, and the public, that you do not care about the school social work profession.”
How is the district going to fix the shortfall?
District leaders did not provide a conclusive plan to clear up the shortfall, but offered insight into their first steps. Teetor said he and his team are monitoring currently vacant positions and evaluating the potential for cutting positions in the central office.
“Just as an example, the finance department collapsed two vacancies and we were able to render about $145,000 in savings so far just with our team,” Teetor said.
Teetor also explained that the finance team is finishing up its audit. Once that is complete, it will guide additional decisions regarding the shortfall.
What is the Durham Association of Educators saying?
The Durham Association of Educators, the local teacher’s union, quickly registered its disapproval. DAE, which has been calling on the school board to adopt a meet-and-confer policy giving them a seat at the decision-making table, posted a statement on Facebook Saturday objecting to the district’s proposals:
“Because of another budget mismanagement debacle, it has recently come to light that the district has already effectively cut $26.4m directly from school-level operating budgets this year. These cuts were made without input from staff or the community,” the statement reads.
“Now, the district is looking for a further $7m in cuts, potentially through layoffs and taking away positions, in order to balance their books. Make no mistake this district administration is effectively proposing a $33.4m cut to key staff and resources that our students need.”
Lily Kempczinski