Report finds widening gap in local school funding between NC’s richest and poorest counties

The wealth of a child’s county continues to shape the resources available in that child’s classroom, according to a statewide analysis released Friday. The report also found that the gap between North Carolina’s richest and poorest communities is continuing to widen, even as low-wealth counties tax themselves more heavily. 

The Public School Forum of North Carolina’s 2026 Local School Finance Study examines only county spending — leaving out state and federal dollars — to compare what communities are able and willing to raise for their schools.

State and federal spending makes up most of the funding for education in North Carolina, but county funding has come to play an increasingly important role in recent years, both to fill in gaps from state and federal sources and to provide local supplements to boost teacher pay.

Neither State Superintendent Mo Green nor Republican legislative leaders responded to NC Newsline’s requests for comment on the report Friday.

In the 2023-24 school year, the most recent year for which this data is available, the 10 highest-spending counties invested an average of $4,391 per student in local funds, compared with $1,031 in the 10 lowest-spending counties, a difference of $3,360 per child. 

“The poorest counties in our state tax themselves at greater rates and contribute higher percentages of their local revenue to education than the richest counties in our state,” said Elizabeth Paul, a senior researcher at the Forum, in a statement.

Since 1997, when the Forum began tracking the data, the property wealth gap between the richest and poorest counties has grown from about $477,000 per student to nearly $2.6 million, while the difference in local spending has risen from about $1,100 to more than $3,300.

Orange County, the state’s highest local spender, provided $456 more per student than the combined total of the seven lowest-spending counties. Three of those seven, Vance, Hoke and Robeson, were among the original five low-wealth districts that sued the state in the landmark 1994 Leandro case.

Those gaps translate into fewer staff, fewer courses and older facilities in lower-wealth districts.

Because local money pays for salary supplements, wealthier counties can offer far more competitive pay. In Wake County, teachers received an average local supplement of $9,828 in 2023-24. In Greene County, a rural, lower-wealth district with a higher tax rate, the average was $1,000.

To help narrow those differences, lawmakers in 2021 created a program that sends additional state-funded teacher supplements of up to $4,250 to low-wealth and rural districts. Because the study examines only local spending, those state dollars are not included in its totals.

The report arrives as state leaders remain divided over their responsibility for school funding equity across all counties, the dispute at the center of the long-running Leandro case over the state’s constitutional duty to provide every student with a sound basic education.

The case began in 1994 when five low-wealth rural counties sued the state over inadequate school funding. The N.C. Supreme Court ruled in 1997 that North Carolina was not meeting its constitutional obligation. It reaffirmed that finding in 2022 when it ordered lawmakers to fund the first two years of a comprehensive remedial plan.

It has been about two years since the N.C. Supreme Court last took action after agreeing to reconsider whether to uphold a lower-court order directing the transfer of about $1.7 billion to schools. Justices heard arguments in February 2024, but have not yet issued a decision.

Educators and parents who rallied outside the court last month said the delay has left districts without money for staffing, special education services and building repairs. They described overcrowded classrooms, reliance on contract workers and aging buildings with failing heating and cooling systems.

Republican legislative leaders have argued that the constitution gives the General Assembly sole authority over state spending and that courts cannot order appropriations.