Alamance County leaders weigh another round of school funding talks

Alamance County and Alamance-Burlington school leaders left a 7½-hour mediation session with no follow-up meeting set and no timetable for the next round of capital talks. Mediator Greg McGuire said the boards had hit an impasse on day-to-day operating money, but he still believed capital spending could produce a settlement.

Commissioners said they were willing to talk again, but the next move rested with the school board, and Chairman Kelly Allen said an early effort to reconvene stalled because the board did not have a quorum. Vice chairman Steve Carter said he was not even sure there would be another meeting, while Commissioner Pam Thompson said the county had no clear place to find more money.

Commissioner Sam Powell said the district’s request looked far larger once debt service was folded in. He put the total at about $98 million and said that figure would amount to nearly three quarters of the county’s projected $137 million in property-tax revenue for the next fiscal year. County leaders argued that school facilities cannot crowd out funding for the sheriff’s office, EMS, the jail and other county services.

The dispute sharpened almost as soon as the county adopted its June 15 budget. Alamance-Burlington School System leaders challenged it in less than 24 hours, saying the plan shortchanged the district by roughly $14 million overall. The district had asked for nearly $62 million for operating expenses and about $18 million for capital improvements, while the county budget came up about $3 million short on operations and supplied about half of the capital request.

In the county’s FY 2025-2026 budget documents, commissioners shifted $10 million from current expenses to the school system’s capital improvement plan. In February, the district made its capital outlay plan and capital improvement plan for 2026-2027 through 2030-2031 part of its request, along with available bond funds for current safety needs.

Rapid county growth had left Garrett Elementary, Southern Middle School and Williams High School over capacity in ABSS’s 2026 student assignment review. The district’s March 2025 budget request also put $19.5 million at the top of its list for building maintenance and larger projects, including roof replacements, HVAC renovations, security vestibules and cameras.

Manager Heidi York’s proposed 2026-2027 budget projected a $13 million shortfall and relied on a 2.25-cent property-tax increase expected to generate $142.6 million in revenue.