The North Carolina State Board of Education and Superintendent Mo Green are asking the federal government to reverse a decision that effectively stops the flow of $17 million to North Carolina schools for facility upgrades.
The board voted Thursday to send a joint statement with Green that asks the U.S. Department of Education to honor extensions for spending about $17 million in pandemic stimulus funds that the Biden administration had granted last year.
More than $6 billion in pandemic stimulus dollars earmarked for North Carolina public schools since 2020 has been spent or were committed before a September 2024 deadline. But some extensions were made under the Biden administration to allow schools to spend the funds before the end of March 2026 — particularly spending for facility expenses to offer relief from times when materials and labor were in short supply.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon said last week she wouldn’t honor those extensions, stating that schools had “ample time” to spend the money and that the extensions were “not justified.” In a letter to state officials across the country, McMahon noted that they could re-apply for their extensions and would be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
Four school districts in North Carolina had extensions: Robeson, Halifax, Lenoir and Richmond county school systems. Public Schools of Robeson County was still awaiting the bulk of that — $14.6 million, largely for heating and air conditioning equipment. Richmond County Schools lost another $1.3 million, while Halifax lost about $886,000 and Lenoir lost about $252,000.
Robeson Assistant Superintendent Bobby Locklear told WRAL News he doesn’t know what the district will do if it doesn’t get the funding restored. All of the money is committed in contracts with other companies for HVAC, window and new classroom projects, he said.
Already district leaders have found $1.6 million of district funds to cover one payment, but Locklear said the district doesn’t have the savings to cover the remaining $13 million. The district now has outstanding invoices it can’t afford to pay, Locklear said.
Officials at the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction told WRAL News that the projects across all counties were largely for facilities, including window replacements. Some of those projects can’t be done quickly even after the worst of the supply shortages are over, because the work requires students and staff to be out of the building for extended periods of time, leaving holiday breaks and summers as the only times to do them.
In a statement directed to McMahon, the board and Green noted that the school districts had already signed contracts to do the work.
“These districts will now face potential cancellation of projects or, worse, will not have the resources to pay the bills for work already done,” they said in the statement.
The Robeson district’s projects — which include a new HVAC system at Lumberton High School, new classrooms added onto two high schools, and window replacements at three elementary schools — have been in the works for about two years and were scheduled to be done by the summer, Locklear said. But it hasn’t been simple getting them done since they were initially planned because of supply chain issues during the pandemic and other timeline issues.
“There was such a lead time for any type of HVAC equipment,” Locklear said. One piece of equipment took 58 weeks to arrive after first being ordered.
“And a lot of projects simply can’t be done while kids are in the building,” he added.
The district is submitting documentation to DPI about the projects, the reason the district is pursuing them, what remains to be done and what the timeline is for completing them.
Ultimately, DPI will submit the new request to continue the funding, once it finishes gathering the required documents from the affected school districts.
In introducing the letter, Green said he’s taking a “measured” approach to federal changes, a sentiment that echoes memos he’s sent to school systems about reacting to federal changes.
Still, he said, “A top priority is certainly ensuring minimal disruption to services for our 1.5 million students, particularly those served by federal programs.”