Welcome to the April edition of Chalk Talk—your monthly look inside the work of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education. This month’s update includes key highlights from the April 22 Board meeting, including the adoption of the 2025-2026 budget, early literacy celebrations, and important policy updates.
Trying things a bit different this month to streamline my newsletter to make it easy and more coinvent for you to see. As always open to feedback.
April Chalk Talk: A Closer Look at Your CMS Board of Education
Welcome to the April edition of Chalk Talk—your monthly look inside the work of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education. This month’s update includes key highlights from the April 22 Board meeting, including the adoption of the 2025-2026 budget, early literacy celebrations, and important policy updates.
2025-2026 BUDGET VOTE
The highlight of the night was the Board’s decision on the recommended 2025-2026 budget, which was adopted by a vote of 5-3.
Those who supported the budget emphasized:
- Increased compensation for staff members, especially teachers.
- Continued investment in professional development and teacher growth.
- $8.3 million to fund Phase 2 of the Classified Compensation Study, addressing wage disparities.
- $2 million to ensure student access to digital devices for learning.
Those opposed to the budget expressed concerns that:
- While acknowledging the state’s underfunding of teacher salaries, the county’s contribution didn’t go far enough.
- The local supplement increase (5%) falls short of supporting teachers’ financial needs, especially in a high-cost housing market.
- The budget fails to reflect the board’s own legislative goal of ensuring affordable living for educators.
The Board extends gratitude to all who participated in stakeholder engagement sessions and the April 8 public hearing on the budget.
My comments on the budget vote
As a member of the Board, one of our most important responsibilities is to ensure that every dollar in the CMS budget reflects our values and our commitment to the students, staff, and families we serve. While I deeply respect the work that went into developing the 2025-2026 budget, I could not support the final proposal. My vote was not taken lightly—it was made after careful consideration of the budget’s long-term impact on equity, staff compensation, student programs, and our legislative priorities. Below is the statement I delivered during the meeting explaining my decision:
Tonight, I’m voting against this budget—not because I don’t believe in supporting our schools, but because this proposal falls short of meeting the urgent and clearly stated needs of our educators and staff.
The budget includes only a 5% increase in the local supplement for teachers and certified staff. That’s a start, but it’s not enough—especially considering that we now know the state only plans to raise teacher pay by 3%, with a 4.24% increase in benefits and a 0.5% step increase for classified staff. That means the burden falls even more heavily on our local funding to make up the difference. Which let me be clear is not something that should be happening, but these are the cards we were dealt.
In our legislative agenda—which this board approved in February—we asked for an 8% increase, but I believe we must go further and request a 10% increase specifically and transparently allocated to teacher compensation. Teachers should not be priced out of living in the communities they serve.
We’ve also heard directly from CMAE and local teachers about priorities that are not reflected in this budget:
- We must maintain the highest teacher supplement in the state, with particular attention to veteran teachers.
- A flat-rate inclement weather pay policy is needed for non-essential classified staff.
- There is no contingency plan for the potential loss of federal Title II and III funds—a serious gap.
- We need stronger investment in non-sports academic and enrichment programs like foreign language, arts, debate, and academic clubs, which are often the first cut during budget shortfalls.
We have said over and over again that the best way to improve student outcomes is to have qualified teachers in every classroom. This budget needs to cut more of the extra programs and focus on retaining and recruiting quality teachers.
SOFG Literacy Celebration
In support of Strategic Objective for Goal 1, the Board recognized 31 first-grade students who have made notable progress in early literacy. Congratulations to these young learners for their hard work and dedication!
POLICY UPDATES
The Board approved several important policy changes:
B-BPP: Board Policy Process
- Streamlines the review process before sending policies to the Policy Committee.
B-COM: Board Committees
- Requires standing committees to meet quarterly.
- Policy Committee must meet at least six times per year.
- Agendas must be submitted seven days in advance.
B-COMA: Advisory Committees
- Updates focus on the appointment process for the Community Equity Committee.
Omnibus Policy Updates (NC General Statutes Alignment)
- Modification of A-CHE: Comprehensive Health Education
- Creation of A-FLAG: Pledge of Allegiance Policy
- Modification of O-ELX: Relations with Law Enforcement
- Modification of S-ATT: Attendance Monitoring
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