Facing uncertain funding, how much do NC school districts have saved?

North Carolina school districts are facing an uncertain budgeting season as both federal and state funding sources hang in the balance. Over the last year, school districts have seen cuts to federal education grant programs and no pay raises for teachers after the General Assembly failed to pass a comprehensive state budget.

Where does that leave districts? The answer may depend in part on district fund balances — which operate like savings accounts for public school districts. Below, you can find data on fund balances at the end of fiscal year 2024-25 for most school districts.

The Local Government Commission (LGC), a part of the state treasurer’s office, collects annual data on the fund balances of all 115 North Carolina school districts. In an email to EdNC from the LGC in 2020, fund balances were described as “a savings account that schools can use” if they have unanticipated expenses or opportunities.

School district fund balances contain local money appropriated by county commissioners, and not state or federal dollars. However, state and federal funding can impact how much districts can save in their fund balance — for example, during the pandemic, there was an influx of federal money which allowed many districts to save local funds.

How much is the right amount to have saved?

According to an LGC release from 2022, there is no statutory requirement for a minimum amount local governments need to keep in their fund balance.

The LGC reports fund balance available (FBA), which “represents the maximum amount that is legally available for appropriation in the next year,” and FBA as a percentage of expenditures, which is intended to provide an estimate of how much of a district’s expenditures its available fund balance would cover.

The LGC release notes a “myth” that municipalities need to keep an FBA equal to 8% of annual expenses to stay financially sound. That’s about one month’s worth of expenses.

An FBA equal to 8% of annual expenses likely wouldn’t represent sufficient reserves to provide cash flow during periods of declining revenues, or to be used for emergencies and unforeseen expenditures, the release says.

“Fund balance available is just one of many factors that can be used to determine a unit’s fiscal health,” the release also notes.

An additional factor for school districts, compared to other local governments, is that school districts are not able to levy taxes — instead, local funding is allocated by county commissioners.

The LGC recommends that local governing boards “develop a fund balance policy that requires they maintain a fund balance that is consistent with that of their peers. The policy should include corrective action should the fund balance fall below the intended targets.”

For school districts, the LGC said such a policy might include an agreement with their county, taking into account how much the county is willing and able to help in the case of emergencies.

District fund balances at the end of FY 2024-25

The LGC data below, requested by EdNC, includes the fund balance available from most North Carolina school districts for FY 2024-25, ending June 30, 2025.

Five school districts had a negative FBA at the end of FY 2024-25:

• Chapel Hill/Carrboro City Schools at -$294,028 (0.32% of expenses)
• Chatham County Schools at -$1,561,382 (2.77% of expenses)
• Clay County Schools at -$66,125 (3.25% of expenses)
• Durham Public Schools at -$7,891,416 (3.84% of expenses)
• Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools at -$31,839,227 (14.92% of expenses)

A negative FBA “usually means that liabilities in the local current expense fund outweigh cash on hand,” according to previous EdNC reporting.

Wake County Schools had the highest FBA of $83,621,204 (11.34% of expenses). The average FBA was $5,167,417. The average FBA as a percentage of expenditures was 26.39%.

Data from a few districts had not been received when the LGC sent the data in March 2026 and is therefore missing. Data was not available for Cherokee County Schools, Edgecombe County Public Schools, Greene County Schools, Pitt County Schools, and Tyrrell County Schools. Those districts are omitted from the maps below.

This data is the first time that the effect of Hurricane Helene on fund balances in western school districts would potentially be reflected. In the map below, showing the year-to-year change in FBA between 2024 and 2025, many western counties show slight decreases in FBA — however, many non-Helene affected counties in other parts of the state had lower FBAs as well.

The following map shows the change in FBA in districts from 2019, before the pandemic, to 2025. Since 2019, FBAs across the state have mostly grown or stayed level.

Facing federal and state funding uncertainty, districts with higher fund balances may be better prepared to fill gaps and may be able to be less conservative in budgeting for the upcoming year.

But even healthy fund balances can act only as a partial buffer. And money spent this year, if not replenished, won’t be there next year — amid local property tax increase limit proposals, fund balances may be destined to shrink.

See school district fund balance data going back to 2013 in this spreadsheet maintained by EdNC.