Robbinsville – A combination of untimely windfalls has put Graham County Schools into dire financial straits.
The federally-backed Secure Rural Schools program was not authorized by Congress before the December 2024 adjournment, even after the U.S. Senate voted in November to extend the legislation for two more years. School districts across North Carolina are indirectly funded by the program, which provides monies to counties with large portions of federal forest land. The Nantahala National Forest encompasses 531,148 acres (74%) of land in Graham County; the payout to the county was $180,505.61 in 2024 – of which Graham County Schools received $136,773.
Then came the biggest blow: the district learned earlier this month that its Low-Wealth Supplement Funding was being decreased by $340,000. Low-Wealth funding comes from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and according to the state legislature, is calculated by multiplying the difference between a county's appropriation per student and state average local appropriation per student by the county's average daily membership.
To do the quick math, that's a $520,505.61 loss for the local school system. By comparison, the district is projected to spend over $400,000 on utilities alone by the end of the 2024-25 fiscal year.
Graham County Schools said it only pencils in $40,000 a year for revenue from the timber receipts, which typically comes in higher – but also changes annually. Additionally, the district received enough money from last year's Low-Wealth allotment to pay for several employee salaries.
Now, the decrease in both fund sources could force those same positions to be dropped at the start of the upcoming school year.
Funding for the new Robbinsville Elementary School is coming from restricted, lottery-funded grants, as part of the state department of public instruction's Needs-Based Public School Capital Fund. Supplemental funding comes to the district from the state department of instruction, as Graham County has one of the smaller school systems in the state. The funding helps pay for additional teachers and resources, as needed.
The district said it has also reached out to Sen. Kevin Corbin and House Rep. Kevin Gillespie for help on the matter, and added that all avenues were being explored before having to eliminate personnel.