The state budget passed this week by the legislature contains 727 special appropriations totaling more than $350 million.
For comparison, the 2023 state budget included 943 special appropriations totaling $1.2 billion.
Some call it pork. Others call it regional economic development. Regardless, these appropriations skip committee scrutiny, public hearings, and floor debate. They are most typically distributed in the form of directed grants.
As Sen. Kevin Corbin, R-Macon, says, “I can promise you what you won’t get. You won’t get things you don’t ask for.”
In some ways, this is a list of who asked for what. Villages, towns, cities, and counties asked for state funding, but so did school districts, community colleges, and nonprofits that serve kids. For example, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, a philanthropy, received a special appropriation.
It is also a list of who has powerful elected officials in their districts, and a measure of who has a good relationship with them. Mount Airy City Schools led the way for school districts with $3 million for athletic field improvements. Davidson County Schools received three separate appropriations for different purposes totaling $630,000. Some districts asked for and received smaller appropriations for each school in their district.
The early college in Senate Leader Phil Berger’s district (Guilford and Rockingham) was the only one to receive a special appropriation. The Education Foundation for the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, Inc. was the only education foundation to receive a special appropriation. Guilford Technical Community College led the way among our 58 community colleges with $9,623,000 for the aviation center.
This is a list in some cases of exceptional need. Madison County’s courthouse, for example, was severely damaged in Hurricane Helene.
It is a list of things we collectively worry about, including access to healthy food, domestic violence, human trafficking, mental health, and unplanned pregnancy, though there is disagreement about how these issues should be addressed, and by who.
It is also a list of things North Carolina loves. Like Friday Night Football. Like festivals. We love a festival, from the Lexington BBQ Festival to the Fremont Daffodil Festival to the NC Folk Festival.
STEM West and the Diaper Bank of NC each received two appropriations for the same amount of money and one could wonder if that was intentional. The Ankise Miheret Bata Lemariam Ethiopian Orthodox Tewhedo Church also received two appropriations for their youth school. There seemed to be a pattern of athletic booster clubs in Union County receiving $323,333, but then one got $353,333. If there are mistakes, then a subsequent technical corrections bill may address them.
You can see all of the special appropriations below, excerpted from the conference committee report.
These tables include the recipients of funding that EdNC has covered or our audience will be most interested in. This article is limited to section F of the conference committee report; elsewhere in the budget there are other appropriations that benefit individual entities. Unless indicated, these are nonrecurring funds.
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Funding for special appropriations funded by the Stabilization and Inflation Reserve
In line items 48-111, there is $150,750,000 in special appropriations. Other than Madison County which received $27,000,000 for hurricane relief, the big winners were hospitals and health care facilities.
| Recipient | Amount | Purpose, if indicated |
| Ankise Miheret Bata Lemariam Ethiopian Orthodox Tewhedo Church | $100,000 | In Charlotte, for their youth school |
| Conetoe Family Life Center, Inc. | $1,000,000 | Food is Medicine program |
| Diaper Bank of NC | $500,000 | |
| Edgecombe County Schools | $1,500,000 | To support operations following the implementation of new school districts in the region |
| Rockingham Community College | $275,000 | For capital and equipment at the early college |
| STEM West, Inc. | $250,000 | To increase and enhance STEM opportunities and interest for local communities and for K-12 students in the western region and to foster STEM partnerships between students and public and private industries |
Funding for special appropriations from the Regional Economic Development Reserve
In line items 112-775, there is an additional $203,225,000 in special appropriations funded through the Regional Economic Development Reserve.
| Recipient | Amount | Purpose, if indicated |
| K-12 | ||
| Bunker Hill High School, Catawba County Schools | $50,000 | To purchase, construct, or renovate a strength and conditioning facility |
| Cabarrus County Schools | $75,000 | To fund communications devices for children with special needs |
| Caldwell County Schools | $1,200,000 | To be distributed equally amongst South, West, and Hibriten high schools for facility improvements |
| Caldwell County Schools | $100,000 | To support new or existing science and music programs |
| Camden County Schools | $60,000 | For capital improvements |
| Catawba County Schools | $150,000 | For science and music programs |
| Cumberland County Schools | $50,000 | For Gray’s Creek High School Future Farmers of America chapter |
| Davidson County Schools | $350,000 | To support school booster clubs |
| Davidson County Schools | $100,000 | To support exceptional children programing |
| Davidson County Schools | $180,000 | Funding distributed as follows: Elementary Schools – $7,500 each Middle Schools – $7,500 each Middle School Bands – $2,500 each High School Booster Clubs – $25,000 each |
| DPI — Council on the Holocaust | $25,000 | Operating needs |
| East Duplin High School, Duplin County Schools | $400,000 | For capital improvements or equipment for the track and field |
| Eastern NC School for the Deaf | $200,000 | A summer camp |
| Education Foundation for the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, Inc. | $155,000 | To support educational programs |
| East Gaston High School, Gaston County Schools | $100,000 | For athletic facility improvements |
| North Gaston High School, Gaston County Schools | $100,000 | For athletic facility improvements |
| Bethel Middle School, Haywood County | 500,000 | For renovations to the stadium |
| Tuscola High School, Haywood County | 500,000 | For renovations to the stadium |
| Lexington City Schools | $70,000 | Funding distributed as follows: Elementary Schools – $7,500 each Middle Schools – $7,500 each Middle School Bands – $2,500 each High School Booster Clubs – $25,000 each High School Bands – $5,000 each |
| Mount Airy City Schools | $3,000,000 | For for athletic field improvements |
| Stanly County Schools | $350,000 | For ADA compliance purposes |
| Dillard Middle School Track, Wayne County Public Schools | $200,000 | Capital improvements or equipment for the track |
| W.E.B. Dubois Community Development Corporation | $250,000 | For a career and technical training hub at DuBois High School in Wake Forest |
| Parkland High School Booster Club | $150,000 | In Forsyth County, for athletic equipment |
| Purnell Swett High School Athletic Booster Club, Inc. | $165,000 | In Robeson County, for capital projects for various athletic departments |
| South Point High School Athletic Foundation, Inc. | $320,000 | In Gaston County, for capital improvements or equipment for the athletic facilities |
| Cuthbertson Athletic Booster Club, Inc. | $323,333 | In Union County, for athletic facility upgrades, this organization supports supports Cuthbertson Middle School and Cuthbertson High School |
| Marvin Ridge High School Academic Booster Club | $323,333 | In Union County, for athletic facility upgrades |
| Weddington Middle School Athletic Booster Club, Inc. | $353,333 | In Union County, for athletic facility upgrades |
| Community Colleges | ||
| Guilford Technical Community College | $9,623,000 | For the aviation center |
| Mitchell Community College | $500,000 | For the development of a public safety center |
| Rockingham Community College | $614,000 | For capital costs relating to transformers |
| Rowan-Cabarrus Community College | $350,000 | For start-up funding for a dental hygiene program |
| Sampson Community College | $1,620,000 | For for capital improvements and equipment and program support for the agricultural rescue training program |
| Southwestern Community College | $50,000 | For capital improvements |
| Tri-County Community College | $50,000 | For capital improvements |
| Wayne Community College | $100,000 | |
| Other | ||
| Ankise Miheret Bata Lemariam Ethiopian Orthodox Tewhedo Church | $500,000 | In Charlotte, for youth school |
| Bella’s Backpacks | $25,000 | This is a nonprofit that provides school supplies to child victims of abuse |
| Bertie County Hive House | $250,000 | For youth workforce programs |
| Bikes 4 Kids Foundation | $50,000 | To provide new bicycles and helmets to underserved third grade children |
| Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeastern North Carolina, Inc. | $800,000 | For the teenage learning center in Onslow County |
| Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeastern North Carolina, Inc. | $500,000 | For the purchase of a building to be used for community service activities in Onslow County |
| Boys & Girls Clubs of The Tar River Region, Inc. | $250,000 | For capital improvements |
| Boys and Girls Club of Cabarrus County, Inc. | $150,000 | For expansion of services |
| Boys and Girls Club of Eden | $250,000 | |
| Boys and Girls Club of the Sandhills | $200,000 | |
| Boys Club of Wake County, Inc. | $100,000 | For the construction, renovation, maintenance, and/or repairs of new or existing facilities in Johnston County |
| Wake Forest Boys & Girls Club | $350,000 | To the Boys Club of Wake County, Inc. for the Wake Forest Boys & Girls Club for various capital improvements |
| Burroughs Wellcome Fund | $150,000 | |
| Child Development Center, Inc. | $200,000 | A nonprofit that specializes in serving children with special needs |
| ChildPlex | $50,000 | To Yadkin County Economic Development Partnership for ChildPlex |
| Communities in Schools of Cape Fear, Inc. | $100,000 | A nonprofit dropout prevention organization |
| Davie County Economic Development Commission, Inc. | $1,000,000 | To support workforce development programming |
| Diaper Bank of NC | $500,000 | |
| Dream on 3 | $100,000 | A nonprofit that creates positive experiences for children and young adults with life-altering conditions through the world of sports |
| East Carolina University | $100,000 | To create a merit based scholarship for eastern North Carolina students, with priority given to Onslow County students in the fields of finance and artificial intelligence |
| Eckerd Youth Alternatives, Inc. | $100,000 | For the Angel’s Watch Program |
| Gaston Business Association, Inc. | $100,000 | For Impact Gaston workforce program initiatives |
| High Point University | $500,000 | To support allied health programs, including new programs in healthcare and dental care |
| Iredell County Partnership for Young Children, Inc. | $50,000 | |
| Iredell County Partnership for Young Children, Inc. | $150,000 | More at Four program |
| Kidsville News! Literacy and Education Foundation | $50,000 | |
| Lenoir County | $400,000 | To purchase, construct, or renovate an inclusive playground |
| Mt. Calvary Leadership Development Corporation, Inc. | $500,000 | Located in Wallace in Pender County, this is for workforce development programs and community health training |
| NC Institute Against Human Trafficking | $100,000 | |
| North Carolina Down Syndrome Alliance | $50,000 | |
| Peacehaven Farm, Inc. | $50,000 | For the expansion of services |
| Sandhills Youth Development | $50,000 | For the First-Tee program |
| STEM West, Inc. | $250,000 | |
| The Partnership for Children of Wayne County | $25,000 | |
| The School of Hope | $100,000 | A private school serving autistic students, for capital improvements and equipment |
| Theatre For All, Inc. | $100,000 | To provides theatre education to students with disabilities |
| Town of Fairmont | $50,000 | For capital improvements to the Fairmont Youth Center |
| Tuscarora Council of Boy Scouts of America, Inc. | $50,000 | |
| Vanguard Educational Institute, Inc. | $50,000 | To conduct outdoor wildlife education projects |
The complete list
Here are all of the special appropriations excerpted from the conference committee report.
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