School board claims proposed funding level provided for ABSS in county budget is insufficIent
Less than 24 hours after the county commissioners voted 4-1 for a new county budget with no tax increase, school board members huddled behind closed doors for 40 minutes Tuesday afternoon to consider invoking the statutory process to challenge the commissioners’ allocation for ABSS as insufficient.
The board emerged shortly before 6:00 p.m. to vote unanimously, 7-0, to challenge the commissioners’ allocation of $58.8 million for current expenses for the upcoming fiscal year as insufficient. Board chairman Sandy Ellington-Graves joined the meeting by phone.
The school board’s action will set in motion a process, the first step in which is a joint meeting between the two boards, at a date yet to be determined, which could set up a dispute resolution process. Last year, the commissioners preemptively agreed to a higher number during the first joint meeting with the school board.
The purpose for Tuesday afternoon’s special-called meeting was to enter into a closed session in order to preserve the attorney/client privilege and to discuss and possibly take action on the county’s appropriation to ABSS for the 2026-27 fiscal year, based on the notice that school officials emailed on Friday afternoon. The meeting had been called even before the commissioners took final action on the budget Monday night.
School board members reconvened in open session after spending 40 minutes with their attorney Tuesday afternoon.
In voting 4-1 Monday night to adopt the county budget for 2026-27, the commissioners allocated $58.8 million in current expense funding for ABSS, versus the $62.8 million in current expense funding that the school system had requested.
The commissioners voted Monday night to allocate $4.8 million in annual capital outlay; ABSS had requested just over $7 million in capital outlay. The commissioners also voted to allocate $9.4 million in capital improvement funding (CIP funding for big-ticket facility projects); ABSS had requested $18.3 million in CIP funding for 2026-27.
The county’s appropriation for routine maintenance and big-ticket facility projects remains unchanged from the current fiscal year that ends June 30.
Overall, ABSS had requested $88.1 million in county funding for 2026-27, including: $62.8 million in current expenses, or day-to-day operations; and $25.3 million in capital outlay and CIP funding.
Tuesday’s vote follows a similar trajectory as last year’s budget process, which culminated with the commissioners and school board members convening a special meeting at Alamance County’s Historic Court House in late June 2025 to try to resolve a dispute over the county’s initial allocation to ABSS for the 2025-26 fiscal year.
State law provides an expedited process to resolve funding disputes between local school boards and board commissioners when the school board’s county budget request isn’t “fully funded.” That statute allows a school board to trigger the process within seven days of the date on which the county budget ordinance is adopted.
The dispute resolution process consists of three stages: the two boards must meet to attempt to resolve the dispute; and if that fails, the dispute goes to an official mediation to be overseen by a “neutral” party. Finally, if mediation fails, the school board may file a lawsuit against the county in superior court within five days of an impasse, according to an analysis of the public school funding dispute resolution process by the UNC School of Government.
Last year, at the end of the joint meeting, the commissioners ultimately agreed to appropriate an additional $2.7 million in current expense funding and an additional $1.4 in capital expense funding million to ABSS for the 2025-26 fiscal year, based on the text of the agreement that the commissioner and school board chairmen signed on June 20, 2025.
The June 2025 agreement also included a release from any future claims, meaning that ABSS effectively agreed not to pursue court action – but only as it pertained to county funding for the 2025-26 fiscal year.
ABSS superintendent Dr. Aaron Fleming had warned during a discussion at the school board’s latest monthly meeting on May 26 about possible cuts to the school system’s budget if the commissioners adopted the budget as presented late last month by Alamance County manager Heidi York.
During that discussion, Fleming and other school officials outlined a raft of spending plans that ABSS might have to forego including: Installation of weapons detection systems at all schools; installation of security vestibules at several schools; ongoing roof and HVAC system replacements, which began after the county commissioned a study to repair aging school roofs and HVACs following the $29.3 million mold outbreak in the fall of 2023; replacement of leased student laptops; the design of a new elementary school in the eastern part of the county; new salary supplements for Exceptional Children’s staff; and planned increases in existing salary supplements for principals, assistant principals, teachers, and classified employees.
ABSS officials had told The Alamance News during a school board work session last week – the same day that the commissioners held a work session on the budget – that they were taking a wait-and-see approach on the budget before determining the next potential steps.
Read background on county budget, commissioners’ actions:
Monday night (June 15) budget adopted: https://alamancenews.com/breaking-mon-night-commissioners-vote-4-1-to-tap-savings-to-avoid-property-tax-hike-in-new-budget/
Commissioners tell manager (June 8) to revise budget with no property tax increase; use more savings: https://alamancenews.com/breaking-news-commissioners-tentatively-revise-county-managers-budget-to-eliminate-property-tax-hike/
Speakers at budget public hearing (June 1) divided between those opposing tax increase and others wanting more spending for ABSS: https://alamancenews.com/competing-public-speakers-turn-out-to-press-for-no-property-tax-increase-more-spending-for-abss/
