Terminated community school funds affect WNC counties
Swain County Schools would greatly benefit from FSCS funding.
File photo
For nearly 20 years, the United States Department of Education has helped fund Full-Service Community School programs in “high-poverty” and “high-poverty rural” schools across the nation, while coalitions and existing community partners ensure on-the-ground, local implementation.
A Learning Policy Institute study in December 2017 found that $1 devoted to the program could return up to $15 “in social value and economic benefits” — and it’s reasonable to assume that, in 2025, returns are even greater.
In North Carolina, the FSCS model designed and proposed by NC Community Schools Coalition invites external partners and implements afterschool activities, a community school plan, a school advisory board and a family resource center. Each is facilitated by a full-time community school coordinator and informed by an assessment of the needs and assets within that population.
The 2023 allocation of nearly $50 million in FSCS funding over a five-year period marked the start of North Carolina’s current grant cycle.
NCCSC proposed staggered rollouts beginning July 2024, July 2025, January 2026 and fall 2026, and it split target schools into two groups based on implementation: “Year 1” or “Years 2-5.” It also classified funding by population — rural or non-rural — and region — west, east and central.
All was according to plan until mid-December 2025, when ED notified North Carolina of its decision to terminate the grant, effective at the end of the month.
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Consequently, Attorney General Jeff Jackson joined legal representatives of Maryland and the District of Columbia to file a Dec. 30 lawsuit against Secretary Linda McMahon and ED for what Jackson claimed in a Dec. 31 press release was an unprecedented and unlawful move to cut off funding “with virtually no notice.”
The release alleged that if the Trump administration’s termination came to pass, it would “force schools to shut down programs and potentially lay off staff in the middle of the school year.”
That could be the case for nine “Year 1” grade-level schools in Western North Carolina, all of which are part of the Buncombe County or Asheville City system. Only Title I Eligible Non-Rural Schools were slated to receive 2024 funding in the “west” region, a decision the NCCSC seemed to explain in its initial grant application.
“Although most of [Western North Carolina’s] 23 counties are rural and largely White (an effect of decades of segregating practices in housing and employment), non-rural counties have significantly higher representations of people of color,” which can mean receiving less funding despite equivalent taxes, noted the proposal.
However, the non-rural areas of Appalachia are majority white; white student enrollment proportions at Asheville City Schools (63%) and Buncombe County Schools (64.7%) roughly match multiple rural WNC district counterparts. But the two non-rural school systems face an additional problem — the racial achievement gap.
Data from the 2023-2024 academic year shows that white students in Buncombe County Schools were 3.7 times more likely — and white students in grades 3-8 at Asheville City Schools were 8.6 times more likely — to score “career and college ready” on exams than their Black peers.
So, FSCS implementation at the nine city and county schools has aimed to improve not only student achievement but also racial educational equity.
At each of the nine WNC schools, United Way of Asheville and Buncombe County — credited in the NCCSC grant proposal for its century-long history of community engagement and support — employs a community school coordinator to promote partnerships, access and connection.
UWABC additionally supports school “Community Nights,” campus after-hours events offering free hot meals, material resources and tutoring sessions.
And when Hurricane Helene hit, CSC coordinators only months into the program “helped organize donations from across the state, and connected families to vital resources like food, clothing, household goods, cash and temporary housing” said Dan Leroy, UWABC’s chief executive officer.
The termination of FSCS grants would end standing community and educational support systems already implemented by early funding recipients.
But Graham and Swain counties — two of only four NC school systems with 100% of institutions included in the 2023 proposal and which combined account for nearly 75% of total four-county estimated FSCS student enrollment — might be losing the program before it gets started.
The two districts expected to benefit from FSCS expansion in fall 2026 and join a list of 18 total counties that haven’t yet received any ED money.
There’s an abundance of data showing why Swain and Graham were included in the NCCS proposal.
According to the 2024-2025 NC Department of Public Instruction performance assessment, four of Swain County’s public schools were split 50/50 between C and D ratings, and Swain Academy, still in its infancy, was marked as lacking “sufficient data.” While many neighboring counties didn’t fare a lot better, all, apart from Graham, offered at least one B-level school.
Swain County’s myFutureNC 2025 attainment profile reports a 2019-2023 trend of decreasing educational attainment, with 35.7% of residents aged 25-44 having a “degree or credential” in 2019, compared to only 34.8% four years later.
Then, in 2024, 41.2% of Swain County students were chronically absent from school, nearly 16% above state average.
While Graham County had lower rates of absence and upward-trending 2019-2023 percentages of educational attainment, only 17% of students grades 3-8 had math exam scores labelled “college-and-career-ready,” 13% below the rural, non-metro county average.
Plus, the NCCSC application noted that students enrolled in Swain and Graham schools, like any other “Year 2-5” designated population, “reside in designated health professional shortage areas for primary, dental, and mental health care” — which may negatively influence their academic performance.
“Consistent access to physical and mental health care services are linked to higher test scores and graduation rates,” the proposal said.
In these counties, the future work of FSCS, if allowed to continue, could look like offering physical and mental health resources to improve community outcomes.
