North Carolina school facility funding needs climb 37% to nearly $18 billion

North Carolina is seeing a steep jump in what it needs to spend on its public school facilities, according to a new report by the state Department of Public Instruction. A newly passed constitutional amendment could make that more difficult.  

The 2025–26 statewide facility needs survey, which Vice Chairman Alan Duncan said was “anxiously awaited,” outlined nearly $18 billion in projected public school facility needs across North Carolina over the next five years — a 37% increase from the state’s previous survey in 2020–21.

The assessment, conducted every five years, gives state education officials a snapshot of upcoming construction and renovation projects, while establishing a baseline to track how capital demands have grown across all 115 school districts.

Beyond the five-year window, the survey estimates another $14.78 billion in facility needs for years six through 10, bringing total projected needs over the decade to nearly $33 billion.

“Where is the money going to come from?” Duncan asked during the board meeting. 

The report estimates that districts will need roughly $6.2 billion to construct new schools. Inflation has driven up construction costs, with baseline costs for new school construction reaching $350 per square foot in the latest assessment, up from $250 in 2020–21. The $350 figure does not cover furniture, technology, or equipment. 

However, the larger share of projected spending is for renovations, rather than new construction. The report estimates renovation needs will cost  nearly $9.8 billion, a 77% increase from the previous survey. “More renovations-focused is what we’re seeing in the survey,” said Nathan Maune, director of the Department of Public Instruction’s Office of School Facilities, who presented the report’s findings to the board Wednesday. 

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Local districts reported plans for renovation projects at more than 1,400 schools across 93 of North Carolina’s 115 school systems. Deferred maintenance and repairs, building code and life-safety upgrades, and HVAC improvements accounted for about 80% of all planned work, according to the presentation. 

School districts currently operate more than 6,200 buildings across 2,451 schools. Roughly 67% of those facilities are more than 30 years old, while 29% are more than 60 years old.

The massive renovation estimate prompted Duncan to question whether state and local officials should reassess how they fund work on older buildings. 

“We don’t do this as a state, but you need to take a step back and look at, are renovations really making sense?” he said. “If it’s going up at a 76% rate, and we’re putting $9 billion in renovation and less than that in new schools, that’s a fair question to ask.” 

Funding for these projects relied on a mix of state and local sources over the past five fiscal years. The state provided roughly $2.83 billion through three lottery-funded capital programs between fiscal years 2021–22 and 2025–26, while voters in eight counties authorized $5.88 billion in local school bonds. 

Most of North Carolina’s 100 counties, however, have not passed school construction bonds, leaving rural and lower-wealth districts with limited ways to raise capital locally, Duncan noted. 

He raised concerns over whether a constitutional amendment approved by voters this week could restrict local government property tax revenue typically tapped for school bonds, though the exact financial impacts of the amendment will depend on how lawmakers implement the measure. 

“I think this report highlights, in many ways, the crossroads we find ourselves at,” Duncan said. “And how we respond to that will speak volumes about what we’re saying about the future of our children in this state.”