Craven County Schools are waiting for federal funding allotments to drop.
CCS Chief Finance Officer Heidi Daly told Craven County Board of Education members Lee Kirkman (District 2), Lori Spiece (District 3), Jennifer Dacey (District 4), Amy Davis (District 5) and Darlene Gibbs (District 7) that the school system has not received the federal funding allotments but they did receive the CTE (Career Technical Education) allotment during their work session on Sept. 17, 2026. Patti Mason (District 1) and Lauren Kitzinger (District 6) were absent.
A document in the packet shows the total amount of the FY27 Federal Revisions is over $10 million.
The Board of Education approved a budget amendment which included taking over $2.6 million from Fund Balance to cover local expenses. She noted everyone who is paid from federal, will have to be recoded as local.
A week later, U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon promoted the Trump administration’s plan to disband the department during her “Returning Education to the States” tour in New Bern.
NewBernNow.com followed up CCS this week and Director of Public Relations Jennifer Wagner noted CFO Daly wrote, “Until the federal funds are released, expenses that would normally be charged to those federal programs must temporarily be charged to the Local Current Expense Fund. This includes salary and benefit costs for employees in federally funded positions.”
“Once the federal funds are released, eligible expenses will be recoded from the Local Current Expense Fund back to the appropriate federal funding source. Therefore, these expenses are not expected to ultimately impact the Local Current Expense Fund for the fiscal year.”
We also reached out to Secretary McMahon but have not received a response by press time.
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Early voting for the statewide general election begins on Oct. 15 and ends on Oct. 31. Election Day is Nov. 3. More information can be found on the Craven County Board of Elections website.
Board of Education meeting agendas and minutes can be found here.
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By Wendy Card, editor. Send an email with questions or comments.