Durham County will increase funding for Durham Public Schools (DPS) by about $14.5 million. That’s slightly more than what DPS administrators say would merely keep the district operating as is, and not quite enough to fund the 12% classified staff raises that advocates lobbied for.

The increase in county funding for DPS, compared to last fiscal year, falls $14 million short of the district’s $28.5 million request. DPS’s proposal accounted for $11 million to maintain operations amid rising costs, plus $15 million for new initiatives including raising classified staff pay, and $3 million for student laptop and classroom projector replacements. 

Durham County’s total 2026-27 allocation to DPS is $239 million—about one quarter of the entire county budget, which was adopted by the Durham County Board of Commissioners on Monday night, along with a 2.5¢ property tax increase for the upcoming fiscal year, largely to help account for DPS’s boost.

Notably, the county’s final DPS figure leaves little-to-no wiggle room for non-teaching staff, such as bus drivers and custodians, to earn Durham County’s minimum wage standard of $19.22 per hour. But for Durham County, even that $14.5 million increase was a stretch. 

“We are balancing our residents’ ability to pay [property taxes] also with pressures that we’re having to absorb, because our federal and state partners have shifted how they support the organization,” County Manager Claudia Hager said at Monday’s meeting.

DPS’s initial county funding request would have pushed the district’s minimum wage from $17.15 an hour to the county’s $19.22. The pressure was on for the county; amid ongoing state budget debates, legislators only expressed intent to fund 3% raises on average for state employees including classified workers. 

At Monday’s meeting, Durham County Board of Commissioners Chair Mike Lee said DPS classified workers would see a minimum wage of $18.22 per hour with the county’s 2026-27 funding increase. This comes after DPS Chief Finance Officer Jeremy Teetor acquiesced at the commissioners’ May 21 budget work session that the district could, by lessening operational expenditures, find savings to give classified staff raises without the full $28.5 million increase from Durham County. 

The Durham Association of Educators (DAE) had successfully pushed the school district to request that $28.5 million figure from the county in March. Upon seeing that Hager’s initial budget proposal only made room for an $11 million increase, the educators’ union pressured county commissioners to up the funding for DPS to account for classified raises. Hager originally proposed increasing property taxes by 2¢ but the DAE wanted the county to double down and raise them by 4¢ to fulfill DPS’s request in full. 

Many classified workers are also still sore from DPS promising raises in 2023, only to claw them back from 1,300 of nearly 2,200 employees a few months later after the district revealed an “accounting error.” Since then, the staff members have been left without a raise that keeps pace with rising costs.

The board heard testimonies about the draining workloads of two DPS physical therapists, who warned that low pay would continue to force talented staff to leave DPS.

“Over the past year, the PT department of nine people has lost six. You, right now, are looking at half the PT department that covers the entire county,” DPS physical therapist Heidi Jo Hetland said during the public comment period, gesturing to herself and her colleague.

Right before Monday’s budget vote, the board had a lengthy discussion about giving classified workers more than the county manager proposed. Vice Chair Nida Allam made a final ask that the county “close the gap” to pay DPS workers a living wage this fiscal year—in case the county doesn’t have flexibility to do so next budget season. 

Commissioner Michelle Burton backed Allam’s proposition, suggesting an additional .25¢ raise in property taxes (on top of the 2.5¢ increase they were set to vote on). But the other three commissioners, Lee, Wendy Jacobs, and Stephen Valentine, as well as Hager, staunchly advocated against additional tax hikes—leading to an ultimate board consensus on the 2.5¢ increase. Commissioners agreed that the county would try to achieve a $19.22 minimum wage for classified workers next year.

“There is no question that your needs, and the heartbreaking stories that we’ve heard, should be funded,” Jacobs said, addressing DPS classified workers. “The problem is that we have other heartbreaking needs happening.”

Jacobs cited the additional financial pressure on the county due to the Trump administration’s cuts to social services including Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Multiple commissioners spoke to the financial toll of raising property taxes for residents, and how even seemingly small hikes add up for those who are struggling to afford living in Durham.

The county’s budget ordinance passed unanimously and takes effect July 1, the start of the new fiscal year. DPS will be left to disperse the county’s appropriation across its long list of priorities.

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