Durham Public School Board Members and County Commissioners were unable to come to a consensus Thursday about school funding.

"The elephant in the room is not the Board of Education," School Board Member Steve Martin told County Commissioners at a joint meeting. "It is the draconian cuts in state funding, which is the largest portion of the Board's revenue."

The County Manager is proposing reductions because, he said, Durham County overpaid for 336 students who did not attend school in DPS for this current year. That means about $926,352 from the budget.

Schools also project a reduction of county funding for a state allotted decrease in 464 students next year. That could mean $1.3 million more from the budget.

But school board members say state funding cuts are hard to handle in the first place.

"If you look at the total picture the Senate budget currently requires a $12.7 million reduction. That is the best we can hope for," Martin said. "The House requires $18 million. Combined with the manager's budget recommendation, the Board of Education faces an 8.2 percent reduction in funding and an 11 percent reduction in workforce.

Martin contrasted that to a 6.6 percent cut, on average, that county departments are taking with no reduction in workforce.

"My question about per pupil funding was for the ten most populous counties in North Carolina, four of the five most populous - those County Managers all reduced per pupil funding next year for public school systems," said County Manager Mike Ruffin. "They [DPS] asked for net about $1.6 million more than we're currently giving them."

Superintendent Carl Harris proposed a decrease of $649,588. But board members added $2.1 million to it to save 26 teaching positions, 18 teaching assistants, and the afterschool program ENCORE.

"I was surprised they were asking for more. I thought Dr. Harris, to his credit, really tried to take a stab at trying to make some reductions and I thought that was the honorable thing to do and I wish they would have brought something forward today that represented that kind of spirit," Ruffin said. "They obviously didn't when they adopted the budget and they certainly didn't offer that today. Hopefully we'll see that kind of offer coming in the future."

Ruffin said his staff has compared DPS with Forsyth County, which demographically is a very similar in population and demographics and DPS spends $700 more per pupil than that County.

"Why? Explain to us why that much more money is needed to support our school system compared to some of the others," Ruffin said.
Minnie Forte-Brown, DPS Board Chair, and other Board Members some of those numbers shouldn't represent how leaders gauge Durham's progress.

"We know Durham Public Schools is funded very well. We thank you for that," Forte-Brown said. "We also know that Chapel Hill is funded at a much higher base: $8,922 per student. They have a lower drop out rate: the lowest in the state I believe."

The County and DPS have until next month to iron out the details.