This year's meeting of the minds came as the night before federal funding was set to be disbursed by the U.S. Department of Education, state leaders learned that the Trump administration would be withholding $6.8 billion in funding.
The Education Department sent the following email to states across the country: "Given the change in Administrations, the Department is reviewing the FY 2025 funding for the Title I-C, II-A, III-A, IV-A, IV-B grant program(s), and decisions have not yet been made concerning submissions and awards for this upcoming academic year. Accordingly, the Department will not be issuing Grant Award Notifications obligating funds for these programs on July 1 prior to completing that review. The Department remains committed to ensuring taxpayer resources are spent in accordance with the president's priorities and the Department's statutory responsibilities."
The move was taken as year-round schools were set to begin the 2025-26 school year in North Carolina. And as other schools across the country were preparing to do the same.
Affected services that rely on federal funding include language support for students, teacher and professional development, staff salaries, before- and after-school programs, and other areas.
"So we have to decide, do we no longer run the program or do we find funding from other programs and try to spread it across different areas?" said WCPSS board chair Chris Heagarty, who described navigating the shortfall in funding as "really tricky". The board is also operating on last year's state budget while state lawmakers look to finalize a new state budget. "Many of these programs are for important services that benefit kids. Things we know that work."
Like many other districts, WCPSS receives its funding at the local, state, and federal levels.
"When we set forth our strategic plan, it was a very different environment in terms of the funding that was available for public education. Now we're really having to do a lot of belt-tightening. Having to figure out how to do more with less and really identify what those key services are and how to provide them," Heagarty added.
District leaders, including WCPSS Superintendent Dr. Robert Taylor, are tasked with identifying where to make cuts in a way that is least disruptive to student success.
"We want to make sure that we look at all the ways that we have the pivot," Taylor said. "We need all of those funds in order to educate our children. Any time that we make a fundamental change in what those funding structures are, it really does impact the work that we do. The one thing that school districts continually ask for is the runway to be able to pivot when changes are expected. But unexpected changes, that puts children in a very difficult situation. And that's where we don't need to be."
The district has not said how many total employees will be affected, nor the specific programs, by school, that are at immediate risk.
"Teachers are going to show up and continue to work hard. The work of the central services and the board is to make sure that we diminish the impact of what any funding reduction may do," said Taylor. "And so that means that is the toughest part of our work. To make sure that schools aren't impacted. To identify things that we may have to stop doing that don't impact the critical operations of teaching and learning in the school."
Tuesday's retreat will also take the board into a deep dive of its child nutrition services program, facilities and infrastructure challenges, and bus transportation improvements, among other topics of importance.