Pender commissioners unanimously approve $2.7 million to close school funding gap

BURGAW, NC (WWAY) — The Pender County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved an additional $2.7 million in funding for Pender County Schools on Tuesday night, closing a budget shortfall after an emotional joint meeting with the Pender County Board of Education.

The meeting drew a standing-room-only crowd of teachers, principals, parents and students, many of whom urged county leaders to fully fund the school district’s budget request.

Several speakers highlighted concerns about the impact of the funding gap on classrooms and school operations. Parent Kristen Lash told commissioners that investing in education should remain a priority as the county continues to grow.

“The funding should never be an issue,” Lash said. “The tax base has increased and you can not not invest in children.”

Pender County Schools Superintendent Brad Breedlove said the district had requested approximately $4 million more than its previous local allocation of about $29 million to cover rising costs, including employee benefits, retirement contributions and salary step increases.

“When you talk about benefits, retirement and step increases to teachers and staff, well those have to be funded right and they’re funded by our local budget,” Breedlove said.

Breedlove said district leaders considered several potential cuts to address the shortfall, including reducing the number of substitute teachers, while trying to minimize impacts on classrooms.

Following an extended discussion between school board members and commissioners, Commissioner Jimmy Tate made the motion to provide the additional funding.

“I see this as an emergency because our schools needed this vital level of support and I’m glad to have made that motion and have unanimous support on our board tonight to fully fund our schools,” Tate said.

The measure passed unanimously.

Board Chairman Randy Burton said the county will use money from its fund balance to cover the one-time expense.

“We stepped in and pulled $2.7 million basically out of our fund balance, our rainy day fund, for this one time allocation and what we plan on doing is taking some surplus property that the county owns, sell that property to replenish that one time expense,” Burton said.

School officials said the funding will help preserve educational resources and support students for years to come.

Pender High School Principal Nick Paquette praised the decision and its long-term impact.

“The decisions we did make produced a really exciting yield for kids in our community who will benefit from it, not just next year,” Paquette said. “This is a year of funding, it will impact them for the next 70 and 80 years of their life.”

Both Tate and Breedlove said they hope future budget discussions will focus on increasing teacher pay to help recruit and retain educators in Pender County.