Bladen County school officials said in January the district would need an additional $1 million to educate students with disabilities last school year.
Cheryl White-Smith, the district’s inclusive education director, told school board members the number of students in the exceptional children’s program increased by more than 100 over the last decade. Meanwhile, she said, the costs of providing occupational, speech and other therapies have skyrocketed.
Local Superintendent Jason Atkinson blamed the deficit on the way North Carolina funds exceptional children’s programs. The state pays $5,309 per student enrolled in the services, but limits funding to 13% of a district’s total student population. If the number of students exceeds that cap, the district has to pay the difference.
Across the state, 102 of the 115 public school districts exceed the cap, according to data from the N.C. Department of Public Instruction. In Bladen County Schools, 17% of students were enrolled in exceptional children’s services last school year.
“This is a systemic issue,” Atkinson said during the school board meeting in January. “Most districts are dealing with the same issues we are.”
Many district leaders and public school advocates had hoped the General Assembly would lift the funding cap when it passed a long-awaited state budget this summer. But lawmakers kept it in place while touting other education spending, including 8% average teacher raises over the next two years.
Republican Senate leader Phil Berger said in a statement in June the spending plan “keeps our promise to reduce the tax burden for all North Carolinians, while expanding access to incredible educational opportunities.”
Education advocates have long sought to overhaul the funding model for students with individualized education plans. The Leandro Comprehensive Remedial Plan in 2021 called for the state to revise its funding model and increase supplemental funds, including those for students with disabilities. The plan was part of the long-running Leandro lawsuit, which the state Supreme Court dismissed in April.
In a 2024 report to the General Assembly, the state Department of Public Instruction proposed removing the funding cap and giving school districts money based on students’ needs. The report listed staff salaries as the biggest funding challenge.
The proposed change would “better align resources dedicated to serving students with disabilities,” according to the report.
The nonprofit Public School Forum of North Carolina released a report in 2025 that explores a weighted funding model in which the state would give districts a base amount plus additional money for economically disadvantaged students and students with special needs. Forty-one states use a weighted formula, according to the group.
State Sen. Lisa Grafstein, a Wake County Democrat, introduced legislation in April that would increase the funding cap for students enrolled in exceptional children’s programs to 16%. But lawmakers have not voted on the bill.
The 13% cap “strikes me as something that was a budgeting tool when it was originally implemented, and that’s kind of part of the problem,” she said. “This budgeting tool doesn’t really fit the circumstances that we’re in right now.”
Graftstein said the state needs to adequately compensate public school districts, especially since private schools are not required to serve students with disabilities. Private-school enrollment has increased since the state expanded the Opportunity Scholarship program that helps families pay tuition. Nearly 144,000 students attended North Carolina private schools in 2025-2026, a 6% increase from the prior year.
The state gave Bladen County Schools nearly $3 million last school year for students with disabilities–about $754,000 less than the district needed to cover the costs of staff, benefits, transportation, and other services, according to a budget report. The federal government gave about $1 million, which the district said fell short by nearly $267,000.
Like many public school districts, Bladen County Schools has seen a drop in enrollment. Its student population fell 20% between 2016 and 2026, according to state data. Since the state largely funds schools on a per-student basis, enrollment declines mean less money.
Some other districts in rural southeastern North Carolina have also seen drops in enrollment but increases in students in exceptional children’s programs.
In Scotland County Schools, 18.2% of students received exceptional children’s services last school year, up from 17.4% a decade earlier. The district lost 11.6% of its total enrollment during that time.
Rick Singletary, chair of the Scotland County school board, said the budget is tight. “We’re beyond lean right now,” he said. “We’re starting to cut into programs, those things that are going to have a direct impact on students, like personnel and supplies. That’s where we are now.”
Scotland County Schools Superintendent Adell Baldwin said he hopes changes are on the way.
“While we appreciate the state’s continued investment in public education, we hope future legislative discussions will revisit this funding formula so that state funding more accurately reflects the actual needs of districts like Scotland County Schools,” he said.
The Robeson County school board asked county commissioners for $2 million for exceptional children’s programs this year, although the percentage of students with disabilities fell from 17% in 2016 to 13.2% this year. Tracie Hunt, the district’s interim exceptional children’s director, told board members in May that it’s often tougher to find service providers in rural areas.
Robeson schools spent $26 million for exceptional children’s programs, including $2.1 million in local funds during the 2025-26 school year.
“We will continue to be underfunded in the next year,” Hunt said at a school board meeting two weeks ago.