Budget, Staffing Constraints Are Affecting Watauga

The location of Watauga County on a map of North Carolina. School districts statewide are suffering without a new state budget and already low state funding. Photo Credit: US County Maps

Aspen Hickman, Staff Writer for The Powderhorn

Every other year, North Carolina’s state legislature passes a new budget for the coming 2 years. At least, that’s what’s supposed to happen. But the legislature hasn’t passed a full budget since 2023, and there’s no compromise in sight at the state capitol in Raleigh. On the ground, that means that public schools are feeling the burn.

The state of North Carolina funds school districts based on enrollment numbers. The more students enrolled, the more money a district receives. In grades 10-12, the state gives funding for 1 teacher for every 29 students enrolled in those grades. For 9th grade, the student-to-teacher ratio is 26.5 students per teacher.

“There are specific cap sizes that we have to follow for certain areas. CTE courses, there are some courses that have a mandated cap, but that's a federal mandate,” said Daniel Machon, an assistant principal at Watauga High School. “There are some courses that don't have caps at the high school level, whereas in lower elementary, there are certain caps that have to be followed.”

State funding doesn’t account for the fact that a class size of 29 can be an unsustainable environment for learning in many subjects, and scheduling issues often mean there are even more students than that. Due to scheduling, some teachers may be asked to go without a planning period, for which they would normally receive additional compensation. Because of the lack of a new budget, no teacher in the whole state can receive bonuses or pay raises beyond their pay established by the 2023 budget, which sometimes impacts their compensation. While funding to buyout planning periods often comes from local sources, state funding constraints mean that the district may be forced to make hard decisions that ultimately place more strain on teachers and other staff.

“There are a lot of factors that go into scheduling such a large high school. We are talking 1,550 students. We're talking hundreds of courses that are offered as far as sections,”  said Machon. “I think that there are a lot of factors that we also don't necessarily see on the front lines.  

According to the North Carolina 2025-2026 Allotment Policy Manual, one area that the state doesn’t fund is arts teachers in grades beyond 5th. Called Program Enhancement Teachers, world language, PE, band, orchestra, theater, and art educators are all funded either by using funds for a classroom teacher or through local funding. When enrollment drops or the state budget shrinks, these are the positions that often go first as funding is transferred to core subjects.

“This year, there's a total of 6.5 positions that will be lost for the district. At the high school level last year, we lost 6.5 positions total, of the about 32 positions around the county that were lost,” said Machon.

Those 6.5 positions came from all over the high school, from PE to the arts, but last year’s cuts were county-wide, and many came from Watauga’s K-8 schools. Because K-3 class sizes are capped by state law and new kindergarten enrollment is down, some cuts came from those grades. Kindergarten enrollment is not projected to grow anytime soon, for a variety of reasons. 

“The birth rates are down. So the number of kindergartners entering into our district is lower than it has been,” said Machon. “I used to be a kindergarten teacher. When I was teaching kindergarten, the school that I was at, we probably had between 70 and 80 kindergartners coming in. When I started teaching, we had just added a fourth kindergarten teacher. Last year, one of those positions was cut, and they're down to three, which is pretty significant. So we're already seeing that decrease.”

Low enrollment means lower funding. Lower funding means less room in the county budget for Program Enhancement Teachers and extracurriculars. With fewer programs available, students and families may choose charter schools, private schools, or homeschooling as an alternative to the public system. Watauga’s high cost of living certainly doesn’t help, driving away new students whose families just can't afford to move to the high country. With state-sponsored private school voucher programs, low enrollment, and the lack of any foreseeable change, positive or negative, in state funding, Watauga County Schools is forced to make hard choices when it comes to staffing. 

“I don't envy the decisions that the School Board has to make at all,” said Machon. “They have to make sure that they are being good stewards of the money that is provided, to provide the best possible education.”