118 positions with Buncombe County Schools could be eliminated as budget pressures grow

BUNCOMBE COUNTY, N.C. (WLOS) — Buncombe County Schools says it may need to eliminate about 118 positions for the 2027-2028 school year to balance its budget. Interim Superintendent Dr. Jennifer Reed discussed the potential staffing reductions during the Sept. 3 Board of Education meeting. The district hopes to eliminate positions as employees retire, resign or leave for other jobs, rather than through layoffs. Officials have not yet said which jobs could be affected. Reed said the district is facing several financial pressures, including declining enrollment. 'We're still off around 300 students from what we had last year,' Reed said. 'It indicates that our state funding will be less, most likely going into the '27-'28 school year.' Fewer students can mean less state funding for the district. The district's 2026-2027 budget is expected to be presented to the board at its October meeting. "We also are unsure about the exact amount of local government funding for the '27-'28 school year. We're grateful to have partnered with our county commissioners last year to implement a new funding model, and appreciative of all the support and collaboration that we receive from our county commissioners," said Reed. BUNCOMBE COUNTY APPROVES FISCAL YEAR 2027 BUDGET, TOTALING $484.4M The district is also projecting a roughly $15 million budget shortfall. Reed said using $15 million from the district's fund balance, or savings, to cover that gap would leave about $2 million by June 30, 2027. Buncombe County Schools expects about $124 million in local operating expenses this school year. District policy calls for keeping one month of those expenses, about $10.3 million, in reserves. 'If we budget for $15 million of fund balance to be used, that leaves us with a projected balance of fund balance of $2 million,' Reed said. Personnel makes up the majority of the district's spending. During the 2025-2026 school year, 87% of the district's budget went toward personnel. The district is also continuing to adjust to a position allotment model introduced during the 2025-2026 school year. The model determines how many positions are allocated across the school system. 'We would need to absorb approximately 118 positions to balance the '27-'28 budget,' Reed said. Reed said the district could use jobs that become vacant during the spring hiring season to make some of those reductions without laying off current employees. NORTH CAROLINA EDUCATION LOTTERY SALES HIT $6.6B. HOW MUCH ACTUALLY WENT TO EDUCATION? For context, Buncombe County Schools has hired about the same number of new teachers and other licensed employees each spring and summer for the past three years. In spring and summer 2026, the district hired 259 new certified employees. 'There is the possibility that that will happen naturally,' Reed said. 'The issue there is that we might not have the attrition in exactly the same places that we need to cut positions ... that would necessitate the potential of some staffing shifts throughout that hiring season.' That means employees could potentially be moved if the jobs that become vacant are not the same positions the district needs to eliminate. Reed said some employees could also be moved to different schools if staffing levels don't match where students are enrolled. 'That alone might necessitate us to take a look at facilitating transfers of staff from one school to another throughout the system.' Some Exceptional Children (EC) teaching assistants, who help support students with disabilities, also work other jobs for the district, including driving school buses or working as transportation safety assistants. Reed said those employees would have to choose between keeping that additional job or moving from a seven-hour to an eight-hour EC assistant schedule. 'We do have quite a few EC assistants that have other job assignments, like driving a bus or serving as a transportation safety assistant,' Reed said. 'Those staff members would need to make that choice of whether to keep that extra position or to stay with their seven-hour position.'