This story is part of our regular Data Point series.
Despite spending more on education, public schools in the Border Belt lack the funding to keep up with wealthier counties, according to a new report from the Public School Forum of North Carolina.
The February report examines county spending on schools during the 2023-2024 school year, the latest year data is available. While state and federal dollars account for most education funding in North Carolina, counties are responsible for building schools and boosting teacher pay through supplements.
Bladen, Columbus, Robeson and Scotland counties all ranked in the bottom half of the state in tax revenue and spending per student in 2023-2024, the report shows. Columbus and Robeson counties scored in the bottom 10 in both categories.
Robeson County ranked last in the state in spending per student. The county allocated $656 per student that year, far below the statewide average of $2,374 per student.
Border Belt counties spent an average of $1,487 per student in the 2023-2024 school year. Meanwhile, the 10 highest-spending counties invested an average of $4,391 per student in local funds. Those gaps translate into fewer staff, fewer courses, and older facilities in lower-wealth districts, the report said.
The data in the region follows a statewide trend. The gap between North Carolina’s richest and poorest communities is continuing to widen, even as low-wealth counties tax themselves more heavily. The 10 poorest counties taxed themselves at 1.8 times the average tax rate of the 10 wealthiest counties in 2023-2024. Residents living in lower-wealth districts face a greater financial burden to support public education while their schools remain poorly resourced, according to the report.
The spending gap has grown by more than 300% since 1997, when the Public School Forum first began tracking the data, the report said.
All of the Border Belt counties are attempting to punch above their weight in “funding effort,” which is how much of a county’s overall tax revenue is allocated to education. Low-wealth districts with comparatively high spending levels–like those in the Border Belt–ranked highest in this measure.
“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 Public School Forum of North Carolina, said in a press release.
Scotland County ranked first in the state in funding effort, which is largely because of its school floor tax, which mandated a minimum funding amount for its school system regardless of tax revenue. The law had been in place since 1963, but the state legislature repealed it in March 2025. Local leaders said the move would offer the county board of commissioners more flexibility in budgeting, which often involves balancing school system needs against other county demands.
Wealthier counties can offer far more competitive teacher pay supplements. Supplements varied widely in the Border Belt, with Bladen County paying $1,902 and Scotland County paying $8,062. Scotland, Robeson, and Columbus counties had teacher supplements that were above the state average.
The N.C. Supreme Court ruled earlier this month to end the longstanding Leandro case that would have forced the state legislature to spend billions of dollars on education. Robeson County was among the original five low-wealth districts that sued the state in 1994.
The Columbus County Community Foundation awarded the Border Belt Independent a $5,000 grant to fund Data Point, a concise feature that focuses on numbers and statistics highlighting an issue or trend in the Border Belt. The Columbus County Community Foundation is a nonprofit that connects people with causes and organizations they care about. It is part of the North Carolina Community Foundation network.