The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Board of Education voted 8-1 on Tuesday night to deny Superintendent Crystal Hill's proposed $2.1 billion budget for the 2026-2027 school year and gave her two weeks to come back with a revised version — without saying, in open session, what to change.
Update, May 13: On May 12, the board unanimously approved Hill's amended budget — same dollar envelope, six negotiated changes including the elimination of the $2.4 million Capturing Kids Hearts contract and the reinstatement of all four CMS-DSS educational liaison positions. Read the full breakdown of what changed inside the same dollar envelope.
The lone vote against denial was At-Large board member Monty Witherspoon. The motion was made by At-Large board member Liz Monterrey Duvall and seconded by District 2 board member Shamaiye Haynes. Six other board members joined them: Vice Chair Dee Rankin, At-Large member Lenora Shipp, District 1 member Charlitta Hatch, District 5 member Cynthia Stone, District 6 member Anna London, and Chair Stephanie Sneed.
The board took its other recorded actions Tuesday night unanimously: a consent agenda, a bylaw amendment, a policy amendment, and the retirement of a board-operations policy. Three principal appointments were announced by the superintendent. The recommended Program Choice plan — a consolidation of choice programs into six thematic pathways — was presented for the first time, with a public hearing set for May 12 and a vote May 26. The 8-1 came at the end.
The exchange
Monterrey Duvall's motion instructed Hill "to present an updated budget for consideration by the board no later than May 12, 2026." It did not specify what was wrong with the budget already on the table. Individual board members offered general framing — closing student performance gaps, mental health, teacher resources, district values — but no one named a line item or a dollar figure to cut, add, or move.
After the vote, Hill asked the board what it expected.
"I respectfully ask for clarity at the dais. Because I'm very unclear right now," she said, WFAE reported. She tried it a different way: "Can I ask for a level of clarity on what specifically needs to be amended?"
Sneed declined. "Dr. Hill, we will address that after this meeting."
"I feel very uncomfortable taking direction not at a board meeting, because we've gotten to this level. If the board is taking action to amend it," Hill said, then paused. "The board has approved a directive to amend. As your superintendent, for me to deliver on what you're asking me to do in two weeks ... I just want to be clear that we have a $2.1 billion budget. I do not have clarity on what exactly needs to be amended, and I do not feel comfortable taking that direction outside of a board action."
Sneed declined again.
Hill asked once more. "Madam chair, if the board is directing me to amend a $2.1 billion budget, I respectfully request what part of the $2.1 billion budget I'm supposed to amend."
"Dr. Hill, I understand that, and I've said to you, you will get further direction. It will not be at this moment and not at this time. The meeting is adjourned," Sneed said, banging her gavel.
After the meeting, Sneed told reporters there would likely be a special-called meeting before May 12 to discuss specifics. WCNC's Siobhan Riley confirmed the same timeline. She added: "Is there much that needs to happen? No. Are we almost there? Yes. Will we get a budget done in the time that we're supposed to required by state law? Absolutely."
What the budget actually says
The proposal Hill presented is the same one The Charlotte Mercury walked through on March 25. Of the $2.1 billion total, $1.97 billion is operating — funded 54.6 percent by the state, 6.8 percent by the federal government, and 34.4 percent by Mecklenburg County. CMS is asking the county for $699 million — about $31.1 million more than last year — including $8.8 million for an average 5 percent increase in the local teacher salary supplement, around $8.1 million in obligations to area charter schools, $4 million for new schools and utility costs, and a one-time $6 million payment for student device replacement.
The plan assumes a 3 percent state-driven raise to teachers' base salary. The North Carolina General Assembly has not passed a state budget. Whether the General Assembly will deliver a 3 percent raise, more, or less is unknown. The state funds 78 percent of CMS positions, and CMS administrators have said for months they are building this budget around the gap. Hill made the point again Tuesday: the district has identified roughly $6.6 million in savings from cutting 26 central office positions and is leaving that money unallocated as a cushion against whatever the state actually does. CMS is also planning to hire roughly 200 fewer employees this year, citing a roughly 1.7 percent drop in enrollment that officials have attributed to birth rates and that they argue was projected.
The framing
Monterrey Duvall, who moved the denial, said her objection was specific. She cited Guardrail 3 — the board's social, emotional, and character development guardrail — and the Capturing Kids Hearts program, which she said was failing implementation: only 30 percent of schools are meeting the program's culture-and-climate baseline for teachers; 22.5 percent in fidelity for school leaders. She floated redirecting Capturing Kids Hearts dollars to Behavioral Modification Technicians.
Witherspoon, the lone yes vote, said the budget reflected the district's "continuous improvement mindset" and pointed to the historic academic gains in 24-25. Hill, presenting the board's Goal 1 update earlier in the meeting, had cited 63 percent of K-2 students at or above DIBELS benchmark — the highest mid-year reading on that test since CMS adopted it in 22-23.
The other no-voters were less specific. Rankin said he wanted to give his colleagues more time to think about the budget. Stone said she wanted more time to understand it. Sneed described the vote as normal governance.
What's next
The board will hold a public hearing on May 12. The state budget remains undone. Hill has two weeks to bring back a revised $2.1 billion plan, against a directive whose specifics the board has not yet written down in open session.
Related coverage: CMS Final Program Choice Plan: 11 Schools Lose Programs, Four Gain, Vote May 26 — companion piece on the other major item the board took up the same night.
Around Mercury Local — neighborhood quick reads on this story: