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The ABCs of NC school budgets: why more local districts face budgets that just don’t add up

Jess Bailey Designs
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Pexels

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As the school year begins, the status of state and federal funding for our public schools remains murky while local funding for school districts seems increasingly fraught.

So how does school district budgeting work? Who holds levers of power to keep our schools operating? And why have school budgets – once something that many of us didn’t think about – become front page news for so many communities in recent years?

Due South co-host Jeff Tiberii and WUNC education reporter Liz Schlemmer are joined by a local school board member, a school district superintendent and CFO and a county commissioner to discuss how North Carolina schools are funded and the challenges some Triangle school districts have faced recently to keep our schools operating.

Liz Schlemmer, Education Reporter, WUNC

Jamezetta Bedford, Chair, Board of County Commissioners in Orange County

Dr. Anthony Lewis, Superintendent, Durham Public Schools

Tyler Swanson, Vice Chair, Wake County Board of Education

Jeremy Teetor, Chief Finance Officer, Durham Public Schools

Jeff Tiberii is the co-host of WUNC's "Due South." Jeff joined WUNC in 2011. During his 20 years in public radio, he was Morning Edition Host at WFDD and WUNC’s Greensboro Bureau Chief and later, the Capitol Bureau Chief. Jeff has covered state and federal politics, produced the radio documentary “Right Turn,” launched a podcast, and was named North Carolina Radio Reporter of the Year four times.
Liz Schlemmer is WUNC's Education Reporter, covering preschool through higher education. Email: lschlemmer@wunc.org
Rachel McCarthy is a producer for "Due South." She previously worked at WUNC as a producer for "The Story with Dick Gordon." More recently, Rachel was podcast managing editor at Capitol Broadcasting Company where she developed narrative series and edited a daily podcast. She also worked at "The Double Shift" podcast as supervising producer. Rachel learned about audio storytelling at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies. Prior to working in audio journalism, she was a research assistant at the Aspen Institute in Washington, DC.