Jackson County School Board digs into per pupil spending
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The Jackson County Board of Education this month took an in-depth look at per pupil spending across the school system, prompted by recent discussions about Jackson Community School and its viability for the future.
“I think the overriding message I hope the community hears is that we’re not picking a school to get more resources than another school, we’re trying to be very equitable for every student in Jackson County Schools,” said Board Member Gayle Woody.
At a special called meeting April 23, JCPS administration took almost two hours to help clarify for the board how funding is allocated amongst different schools in the system.
Jackson County Schools spends about $13,500-$14,000 per student annually, though this number varies by school, as of late 2024.
Jackson Community School is the most expensive school for the system to operate relative to its student population. For students at Jackson Community School, as of December 2024, the school system is spending about $37,271 annually per pupil. The next highest per-pupil spending rate is at Blue Ridge School, at $26,586. Both Jackson County and Blue Ridge early colleges cost the system about $21,000 per pupil. At the rest of the schools in the school system, per-pupil spending is well below $20,000, with the lowest at Fairview Elementary and Smoky Mountain High School where per-pupil spending is just over $10,000.
Actual per-pupil spending at each school is determined by annual salary costs for staff within a school, combined with annual operating costs, divided by the student population. For Jackson Community School, which has annual operating costs on par with other schools in the county, but far fewer students, per pupil spending is higher than at any other school.
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A report on this information given late last year prompted the board to consider its options for Jackson Community School. After an outpouring of alumni and community support for Jackson Community School, the board ultimately decided to keep the school in its current location, operating as it has been operating, with hopes to increase student population in the coming years.
But per pupil spending is more complicated than it might seem on the surface, and there are some particular circumstances in Jackson County Schools that make it even more complicated than in other districts.
“We’re looking at the needs of every student and every school,” Superintendent Dana Ayers told the Board of Education.
Schools with fewer students still require operating costs for the school building, as well as administration costs, which means that divided among that smaller student body, per-pupil spending will be higher than at a school with more students.
What’s more, Jackson County is unique among school districts in The Smoky Mountain News’ four-county coverage area in that it does not have a traditional middle school. Instead, 724 middle grade students are split up among four K-8 schools in the county.
In September, the Department of Public Instruction announced that Jackson County would receive $52 million in grant funds from the state for the construction of its first traditional middle school.
The Needs-Based Public School Capital Fund, awarded through NCDPI, draws on money from the North Carolina Education Lottery. School systems can apply for funds for construction of new school buildings, as well as additions, repairs and renovations.
While the new middle school is still a few years away, combining middle grade students into one location should help the school system consolidate middle grade operations and personnel costs.
In addition to its own particular circumstances, Jackson County Schools, like all other public schools in North Carolina, has to comply with state law for class sizes. For each grade level K-3 there are a certain number of students per grade level that constitute a state-funded teaching position. For example, for every 18 kindergarten students, the state funds one teaching position. And while an individual kindergarten class can have up to 21 students, the district average kindergarten class size must be 18.
“The legislature makes the decisions about these things and about our funding, and we all recognize, yes, we need more funding, but they have the authority to make that decision, so we need to advocate with our legislators,” said Woody.
After third grade, while the state still funds teaching positions based on the number of students in a district — one teacher for every 24 students in grades 4-6, one teacher for every 23 students in grades 7-8, one teacher for every 26.5 students in grade 9, and one teacher for every 29 students in grades 10-12 — there are no state limits on class size.
“The state has no stipulations on the number of students you can have in those classrooms,” said Director of Human Resources Michael Vetter. “Of course, best practice, we don’t want to put 35 or 40 stude nts in any classroom.”
Overall, Average Daily Membership is expected to be lower for Jackson County Schools in the coming year. While Jackson County Schools was allotted funding based on an ADM of 3,473 in fiscal year 2023-24, it was allotted funding based on an ADM of 3,424 in fiscal year 2024-25 and it is expected to be allotted funding based on an ADM of 3,338 in the coming fiscal year.
Even though ADM determines funding for an entire fiscal year for the school system, actual student population varies throughout the year.
“[ADM] It’s going to be a little bit lower; these are just projections for [FY] 26, but it will be kind of lower across the board and some grade levels could go up, some could go down,” Vetter explained to the board. “It’s so tricky with the ADM stuff because we’re enrolling kids and kids are moving and going to different schools throughout the course of the year so these numbers, we could’ve uploaded them today and they’re going to change most likely tomorrow or the next day.”
Haywood County Schools is facing a similar trend of declining ADM.
Ayers also explained to the board how charter school passthrough funding impacts the JCPS budget. There are currently 460 students who would be in Jackson County Public Schools who are enrolled in charter schools.
“I don’t think the general public realizes, when I go and ask money from the county commissioners, whatever they give me, some of it is a passthrough that goes directly to charter school funding,” said Ayers.
In the 2023-2024 school year, JCPS paid $977,793 to charter schools. In the coming year JCPS expects that number to be closer to $1.5 million.
“So, when I ask the county commissioners for $14.5 million, about $1.5 of that we’re never going to see,” said Ayers. “We’re going to turn around and pass it back out. ”
That comes out to about $2,528 per student attending a charter school. That money currently goes out to nine different charter schools, most of which are not located in Jackson County.
In 2023, the Jackson County Board of Commissioners voted to loan Summit Charter School $2.5 million after state law changed the ways that charter schools could obtain funds from local municipalities. The loan was intended to bridge cash flow needs during construction of Summit’s facility expansion and to be paid back with interest over the course of 36 months.
Overall, about 72% of JCPS budget goes to pay for personnel, and 28% goes toward operations.
“After two years of being on the board, this is one of the most well-oiled machines that I have seen,” said Board Member Kim Moore. “In all the companies I’ve worked for, teams I’ve worked with, this is beautiful. I’ve also gotten to go to state training for boards and talk to other board members and there’s so much division, so much strife, but this is really beautiful. You all have your stuff together.”
