Bladen County Schools Chief Officer of Finance and Business Services confirms the district has not misused any state or local funding.
“The funding from the state to provide supplemental compensation for our teachers was used for just that. Our local supplement was still paid from local funds [in addition to the state funding],” said Susan Harrison. “Receiving the additional funds from the state for teacher supplements had no effect on the use of our local funds.”
Harrison spoke with Alexis Schauss, Chief Financial Officer of NC Public Schools, on June 15 who shared that while Bladen County Schools was on the list of LEAs that had supplanted local funds, based on the current language of the law; she confirmed this was not considered a misappropriation of funds.
Both the House and the Senate budgets provide a 5% threshold, in which case we would not have a deficit. The total deficit was $6,588 — the total funds for 2022-2023 was $1,427,517. Schauss also confirmed that 100% of funds were used for teacher pay and that Bladen County Schools anticipates receiving the full state allocation without penalty for the 2023-2024 school year.
“Bladen County Schools follows all local, state and federal guidelines,” says Dr. Jason Atkinson, Superintendent. “I am confident in the due diligence of our finance department.”
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