School budgets presented: HCC gets support while large HCS hike gets tepid response
HCC President Shelley White (left) and HCS Superintendent Trevor Putnam (right).
File photos
Haywood Community College President Shelley White got little pushback for the additional $268,000 she has asked for from county commissioners in HCC’s 2026-27 budget proposal, but Haywood County Schools Superintendent Trevor Putnam’s request for an extra $3 million encountered some resistance.
Both school leaders presented their final 2026-27 budget proposals to county commissioners at an April 20 meeting.
HCC proposal
White was joined in attendance by Vice President of Infrastructure Operations and Technology Breck Lanning and two HCC board members.
She explained HCC’s requested appropriations would represent 6.81% of its total budget and be allocated to areas such as salaries, utilities, insurance, service agreements and contracted services.
Inflation is the key driver of many rising costs.
For example, utility expenses are projected to surpass $750,000, in comparison to $710,000 for the current fiscal year, even though HCC has become more energy efficient.
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“Our actual energy usage in those facilities is lower than it was previously. It’s just, it can’t quite keep up with the cost increase,” White said.
HCC’s $405,000 repairs to facilities fund would remain unchanged in the budget proposal, but the institution is requesting an additional $315,000 for Hemlock building restroom renovations and $30,000 for vehicle replacement.
The Hemlock building houses the auditorium, boardroom facilities, bookstore, student services and business office.
“These are high-traffic areas and are in need of a refresh,” the HCC president said.
Commissioners received White’s presentation positively, praising the college for its academic accomplishments and transformative work within the county.
“[HCC is] just such a good cornerstone to our community and our young people coming out of our public schools and that are preparing for a career in the future,” said Commissioner Jennifer Best.
In fact, HCC is now officially recognized as a level II accredited arboretum by ArbNet, an international arboretum network.
“As Commissioner Tommy Long said, we stand behind you, the board and the college altogether,” said Commission Vice Chair Brandon Rogers.
He then pivoted to a question about HCC’s rate of faculty turnover, a problem confronting many academic institutions.
White said while HCC does have issues with turnover, “it’s actually decreased from the past year, and it’s lower than average for higher education.”
The campus has a “fully operational childcare center” for employees, she added, which must also be factored into the equation.
Since early 2020, North Carolina has weathered a net loss of 367 childcare programs, 21 of which occurred between October and December 2025.
So, guaranteed childcare would likely contribute to higher employee retention.
And it means HCC “[has] to consider turnover rates for childcare centers as well as part of how we look at our numbers,” White noted.
HCS appropriations
Haywood County Schools is requesting $21 million in appropriations for its 2026-2027 budget, a nearly 17% increase from the $18 million allocated for last fiscal year.
In late March, the school board unanimously approved the budget request, which was explained in depth by The Smoky Mountain News.
The largest increases are in salaries, which total roughly $1.3 million. Of the remaining $1.7 million, approximately $700,000 would cover the school system’s budget shortfall, which it pulled from its fund balance to finance 2025-2026 expenditures.
The final $1 million, Putnam explained, would maintain 16 “teaching positions that we feel are critical to our ongoing performance at its current pace.”
Unlike HCC, the North Carolina General Assembly is seemingly the most influential force behind HCS’ growing annual expenditures.
This is due to several factors — an unforgiving funding formula, a mandatory yet unfinanced minimum wage set at $15 per hour and the continued absence of a state budget.
In the U.S., 41 states employ a per-pupil model to allocate district appropriations, often weighted to ensure sufficient support for high-need students. From NC Forum to the John Locke Foundation, student-based funding is supported by thinktanks across the political spectrum.
Meanwhile, North Carolina uses a complicated hybrid formula based on average daily membership — the average number of students present during the first 20 days of the school year rounded to the nearest whole number. A total of 18 students will fund one kindergarten teacher while 29 students fund an educator for grades 10-12.
“The funding formula is great if you’re adding students, but when you are not, it’s on a steady decline. It’s a negative residual,” explained Putnam to commissioners.
Moreover, he said, because educators are funded uniformly per average daily membership allotment, without consideration for degree or credentials, “you could end up with an effective cut just because of the way the formula is created.”
In a county like Haywood, with “several master’s level teachers with national board certification,” it’s essentially a “spray and pray,” said Putnam.
As for the $15-per-hour minimum wage, the HCS superintendent lauded the General Assembly’s decision several years ago to institute such a requirement but emphasized that the state “didn’t send any additional money” to cover increased expenses.
Consequently, the county was forced to flatten the pay table, raising starting salaries without proportionally compensating veteran employees.
Putnam spoke of a clerical employee at Waynesville Middle School who’d worked her way up throughout the years to $15.52 an hour. After the General Assembly passed the legislation, “the person hired next to her was now going to make only 52 cents less,” he said.
“So, it created a huge morale issue.”
HCS responded through its classified and non-certified graduated salary study, the results of which would raise graduated compensation levels to meet the recommendations of the North Carolina Department of Instruction and necessitate an additional $1.3 million from commissioners.
Regardless, the school system must navigate hypotheticals without a North Carolina budget.
“Please note that our budget assumptions include the retirement rate of 64.67% and a $500 annual increase in health insurance premiums for all full-time staff,” said HCS Finance Director Leanna Moody.
But the future doesn’t look much brighter for HCS in the event of a functional budget. Its passage promises $350,000 in district cuts, including three teaching positions.
Putnam, framing the situation as a catch-22, made a desperate plea to commissioners.
“The reality is we have two major revenue streams. One’s from the county and one’s from the state, and the state keeps cutting us. We got only one place left to go ...” Said Putnam.
Moody gave a presentation on the academic accomplishments of Haywood’s student as means of justifying the proposed spending hikes.
She noted that in HCS placed first out of 14 western region school districts in 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 for academic performance; among North Carolina’s top 10 traditional high schools, Tuscola scored the highest ACT and Math 3 in Western North Carolina; Students district-wide earned a total of 3,593 Career and Technical Education credits in 2024-2025, up from 587 in 2021-2022; and Haywood Early College took fifth place for best ACT composite in North Carolina and achieved a 100% college acceptance rate.
“I could stand up here all day and just rattle on about all of our schools. We have fantastic schools in Haywood County. These achievements aren’t just in the classroom,” said Moody.
High rankings could also raise district average daily membership by attracting more students.
Best said as a rental property manager, she’s seen this phenomenon, albeit after a family relocates to the area.
“One of the things that [people] ask is, ‘How are the schools there?’ And I can always say — I almost sound like I work for [HCS] instead of for the county — I’m like, ‘Well, let me tell you about it. Let me tell you how good they are,’” she said.
But as much as commissioners praised the district, they appeared hesitant to commit to its budget proposal.
“I assume that the (school) board backs this request up,” said Rogers.
Immediately, Putnam responded, “100% approval.”
“I’m not trying to cast shade on your needs, trust me. But we have big, big fish to fry,” said Long, referencing the county’s several dozen departments and the $17 million in Hurricane Helene-related expenditures FEMA has yet to reimburse.
However, commissioners would not be appropriating existing county funding to HCS. The proposed budget would require a 4.29-cent property tax increase, totaling around $12 per month for the average Haywood homeowner.
Best discussed what she saw as a need to relay the importance of HCS’ proposed funding to Haywood voters.
“I want my constituents and the residents that I see in the — I always say, ‘In the frozen food aisle of the grocery store,’ I want them to understand what that’s about,” she said.
“I’m going to be looking hard at this. I think it’s, you know, our young people, they’re going to be taking care of us one day,” said Chair Kevin Ensley.
But Putnam clarified what the consequences would be if those young people are denied quality education right now.
“As the superintendent of Haywood County Schools, when I tell you I don’t want to cut anymore, it’s going to have dire impacts— I hope you’ll believe me,” he said.
