School Funding: Educators Must Be Ambassadors for Public Education

In this episode of Lead, Lift, Inspire, we explore the realities of public school funding in North Carolina and why educators must serve as informed ambassadors for the profession. This conversation takes a closer look at how federal, state, and local funding systems shape the day-to-day experiences of students, educators, and schools. Together, we discuss common misconceptions, the impact of current funding challenges, and the importance of advocacy grounded in understanding and collaboration. Whether you work in education or simply care about the future of public schools, this episode offers insight into one of the most important conversations facing our communities today.

Joining the conversation is Dr. Jan King, sister of Alpha Lambda Chapter and founder of NC Peak. Dr. King is a retired Assistant Superintendent for Henderson County Public Schools and was recognized as the 2010 Wells Fargo North Carolina Principal of the Year. She currently serves as an adjunct instructor and Principal Fellows Leadership Coach at Western Carolina University and remains deeply engaged in educational and community leadership across North Carolina. With decades of experience spanning PreK–12 leadership, mentorship, and advocacy, Dr. King brings both insight and passion to this important discussion. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Hi everyone, and welcome back to Lead Lift Inspire, the NCDKG Sisterhood Podcast, where we share stories of leadership, innovation, and impact across education and community. This podcast is made possible through funding from the DKG International Educators Foundation, whose support helps bring these stories and conversations to life. I'm your host, NCDKG Alpha IOTA Sister Tracy Metz, and Dr. Jan King, sister with Alpha Lambda, joins us today focusing on school funding and why educators must be ambassadors for public education. Thank you for listening today. Let's get started. Thank you, Jan, for being here today and for your stellar career and commitment to public education in North Carolina. Thank you also for recently sharing and presenting a breakout session during our recent 2026 NCDKG convention in Newborn. I certainly appreciate you and all the prep that goes into that. Thanks for the commitment and effort to bring information that's so important. I found it so fascinating that you were sharing in the breakout session that North Carolina recently ranked at the bottom nationally for teacher compensation and school funding efforts. What impact do you believe this information is having, not just on educators, but on recruitment, morale, and public trust in schools?

SPEAKER_01 1:50

Well, Tracy, first let me start by saying thanks for letting me come on the podcast and talk a little bit about school funding. You know, ironically, when you talk to anyone, whether it's an educator or non-educator, most people remember their own years in school pretty fondly. But there's a narrative right now that schools are broken. And part of that narrative has to do with schools, might not be a place you would want your kid to public schools, in other words, might not be a place you would want your kid to learn, or that you might not want your own child to major in education and teach. And I think that narrative is wrong. And I think it's up to us as educators to help put facts out there. Um, if you talk to anybody about their own child's experience, they usually say, oh yeah, my child's school is fine, but you know, the schools at other places struggle. And the reality is every public school around every corner, it may not be perfect, but great things are happening. What we know though is that where in 1970, over 50% of North Carolina's state budget went to public education. That's under 40% now. And so we have more people to serve, but we have a lower percentage or lower slice of the pie to serve those folks. And I think what that narrative does is create kind of a false conversation about what's going on in public schools. It hurts us with recruitment of teachers. It hurts us with recruitment of students sometimes. Uh, public schools, of course, are very transparent about student outcomes, and not all other choices are transparent about student outcomes or even have an accountability that they share publicly. Um, so I think those pieces really matter when it comes to what we talk about at the pool or at the grocery store with other folks. And for our educator listeners in particular, I think it's important that we know the facts so that we don't come um into conversations with just emotions, that we come into conversations with facts.

SPEAKER_00 4:04

Thank you. Speaking speaking of facts, many people hear terms like federal funding, state funding, and local funding, but don't fully understand how those systems actually work together. What do educators and community members need to understand about how public schools are funded and where the biggest misconceptions tend to exist?

SPEAKER_01 4:30

Oh, I think that's a great thing for for us to talk about. Um I think first of all, I would say every elected official has an impact on education, and we all need to know that, whether it's local, state, or federal. In terms of North Carolina, about uh a little less than 20% of our state budget and education comes from federal. And some of the ways that might impact your local school would be the hiring of teachers who work with students who have an IEP, your teachers who work in career and technical education and workforce development. Um, they even uh federal dollars even impact things like pill grants for our students who are graduating and going on to college. And then when it comes to state funding, which instructionally state funding is about 60% uh of what goes on in schools. Um, and that's where you know a lot of classroom teachers are funded, your textbooks, the programs to keep uh records around student uh data, their transcripts, um, all of those things. And then local is so important. And so people say, well, I'm gonna vote in the other elections. I just don't know about local. But about 99% of capital funds, that's like how your building looks, how your athletic fields look. Do you have modern um facilities? Do you have handicap accessible uh facilities? Do you have leaks in your building? 99% of those capital funds, local facility funds, come directly from your locally elected officials, your county elected officials, county commissioners, and in some cases your city council folks might contribute as well. But that's where it's so important to know where those funds come from and to be able to have, again, factual conversations with our elected officials about how they stand, where they stand in funding local public schools.

SPEAKER_00 6:28

Jan, thank you for sharing that because when I was a baby baby teacher serving in a county that also had cities and towns, and there were many conversations about funding. And I got a very quick lesson into what it meant to have a school inside town limits and have a conversation outside of town limits and understanding how important it is for the local community to understand what that means, and also what that means when you go to vote and who you're engaging in conversations with, because the local component is so powerful and is so impactful in so many positive ways that it is something to be aware of and to have deep conversation around.

SPEAKER_01 7:13

Amen. And I'll add to that just as an example for listeners, I always found it fascinating that if you take the local spending for the 10 most economically disadvantaged counties in our in our state, we have 100 counties, you can take their local education spending for the 10 most struggling counties, add it together, and all 10 together don't equal what our most affluent county spends on students. And so your zip code in North Carolina, if you're a public school student, your zip code does determine some of your opportunities that you have as a student.

SPEAKER_00 7:53

That is a deeper and much needed conversation. So I hope we can circle back to that maybe in season two, coming back and talking about the impacts of zip code. During the convention presentation that you gave, you shared that educators have to become and have to become ambassadors for the profession. What does informed advocacy look like in real life for teachers, school leaders, and even community members who want to strengthen public education without becoming overly political?

SPEAKER_01 8:33

Yeah, I think, you know, we live in such a divisive culture, politically divisive culture, that we have to come into those conversations, not from a political lens, from the lens of taking care of our human resources in the state, our students. And I think we sometimes, and and I think we've all been guilty sometimes as educators to bring a lot of emotion into those conversations. And we need to walk into them with two things, I would say. First of all, informed with facts, and secondly, using the language that those elected officials get held accountable for, economic development, uh a thriving local economy, a thriving state economy, um, opportunities for students, post-secondary opportunities. I think we do a disservice talking to our elected officials when we talk in acronyms and we've and we use all kinds of uh edu speak, I'll call it that. Um so to be able to talk in real terms and give um very specific anecdotal information about a student or a group of students and an opportunity that turned into some sort of uh, for example, an apprenticeship opportunity that turned into a job that paid a living wage and how that student was able to stay in their community and contribute. Um, those those things really matter to our elected officials. I do believe that at the core, people who are elected want to do right. They have a lot of competing priorities, and and we could sit here and name them. They have to take care of safety and well-being and roads and all sorts of other things. And I think as educators, we know that we impact the future because we teach every other profession. Uh, that's a a beautiful responsibility. I don't know that we've done a great job recently at sharing our story well in a way that it translates into the that it'll translate into the narrative that our elected officials have to pay attention to, like job creation and things like that.

SPEAKER_00 10:53

So, Jan, I love how you're saying to have conversation that is factual based in data and information. You've not said exclude the passion. You're saying use the passion to share the information so that for some, the emotional side can become too much and people stop listening or they don't understand the emotional side of it. They understand the passionate side and when communicated to meet the different modalities of the careers that are of the people making the decisions. I think that's really critical to emphasize. What would be the best step an educator could take to make sure they had the facts and to practice that elevator pitch, that short conversation so that they can do it passionately, but factually as well, so that the message is getting across to whomever it is that they're sharing the message with.

SPEAKER_01 11:51

Yeah, I think subscribing to things like your podcasts, subscribing to some of the data warehouse sites that will go ahead and pull the data for us so that we're not having to do that legwork, and then turn that into communication, whether it's email or a postcard. Uh, you might even locally know elected officials you could sit down and have a cup of coffee with. But lead with facts and then follow those facts with a question. For example, using some of the data we've already talked about on the podcast, I think it's a fair question to ask elected officials, how have we gone in the past 50 years from being over 50% of the state's budget to being less than 40%? What competing priorities are there? And how do we get a shift back to paying attention to public education? Um I think the other thing is go vote. Um, you know, I I listened to an elected official who said uh they had run, you know, all of our voting records are public. They had run the voting records and that and teachers weren't voting. And I think as educators, uh first of all, we we have to make our voices heard. And secondly, um we have to be informed when we get in that ballot box. I know DKG, we we are nonpartisan, we do not uh take sides there, but I do know that we all feel passionate about education. So go vote and then don't be shy about reaching out on email or something like that to a to an official or a candidate.

SPEAKER_00 13:32

Well, before we jump into the surprise question, is there anything you want to say that we didn't cover? And I know there's some follow-up topics that we can do in season two. I know I want to jump back into those, but is there anything today that we didn't cover that you want to make sure listeners know about?

SPEAKER_01 13:49

Uh, the one thing I would add that I think is a misconception is around lottery funding. I think a lot of people think the lottery is the answer to public school funding. And so becoming better informed on how lottery dollars are used, they certainly provide scholarships for students, but they are not impacting things like teacher pay, local supplements. Um, so I think it's it's important for listeners to know that there is a narrative that the lottery should solve everything, and it certainly does not solve everything.

SPEAKER_00 14:25

Yeah, I love watching the lottery commercials that showcase some of the big things that the lottery is able to do. But the day-to-day life of a teacher and a family, what that looks like, really comes back to how much the state and the local are willing to fund for the schools and provide for the schools. So thank you for bringing that attention. Thank you for bringing that attention. It's not one or it is both and some more. That's right. That's right. Okay, so here's the surprise question. Should I be nervous? Well, I'm trying to be kind, and I hope this is kind. Okay. And if it's not, we can come back and do another one if you're uncomfortable. Okay. All right. So last question for you today. If you could require every North Carolinian to spend one full day inside a public school, not a staged visit, but a real day, what's something you think would completely surprise them?

SPEAKER_01 15:28

I I think um folks who don't spend every day in school would be very surprised at the many hats that school staff wear. Uh, for example, um, we have a counselor to student ratio. There might be one counselor for a 600 student elementary school. And so that classroom teacher is counselor-esque sometimes, nurse-esque sometimes. I think the general public would be surprised to find that, you know, we're proud of serving all North Carolina students in public schools. Because we serve all students, sometimes people are a little surprised to find that we have students who uh require a full-time nurse with them all day because they're on a on a trach, or uh they might be surprised to find out teachers and teacher assistants are helping with diabetes care management for a school that doesn't have a full-time nurse. And so we help we are fine with being held accountable for student academic outcomes. But I think sometimes if the general public spent a day in a school, they would be surprised that we don't only um dole out lots of academic and instructional support, we dole out a lot of emotional support, um, quasi-counselors when there's not enough counselors to staff all of the needs, um, helping students with everything. We're getting more and more students who come to school who are not potty trained yet. Um, that that number is increasing. And I think it would surprise the general public some of the things we deal with. And then, you know, anything that happens in society happens in a school. Schools are microcosms of society. And so, you know, the things that we see that are problematic in our society are also problematic in school. Here's an example: vapes, um, cell phone use. I know we have a state law now, but students are still, we're almost all conditioned when our phone vibrates to to check it, uh, Apple watches. And so there are a lot of competing interests for a teen's attention, but even a six-year-old. I do think as as folks visit schools, um it it would be eye-opening uh for them to see the many, many things that I would say our superhero teachers uh handle every single day.

SPEAKER_00 17:54

Yeah, thank you. I agree with that. I can remember when we were starting to have interns, especially coming into a kindergarten classroom, and they had not yet connected that they on the very first week and maybe even the first three months would be opening milk cartons because that was not a skill set that most kindergartners have to do in the time it takes to come through a lunch line for kindergartners, and they're like, what is happening right now?

SPEAKER_01 18:20

It's so true. They think I'm getting a college degree to help open milk cartons, and it's yes, dear, you are. Um, and and it's a blessing to be able to help kids with all of their many needs, but I do think it surprises folks at how much uh a teacher uh or a teacher assistant, any any professional at school uh does. They go above and beyond. I I will add to this too, just in the the age we live in, you know, all of our school staff now, we live in an age where everybody's worried about school safety. And I also think to myself, you know, when I drop my grandkids off at their school, I'm so grateful that their teachers are always going to put their safety first. And I'm not just talking about when they're on the playground or out on a field trip. I'm talking about if there were one of those, God forbid, emergency moments, I know the adults in the building are going to take good care of my grandchildren. Um, and I think that's a it's a piece of the job that people don't realize until one of those terrible moments happens. But uh teachers are in so many ways wearing a million hats, entirely undercompensated and often underappreciated. And I would just love to see our, I do think it's related to funding, not completely, but uh partially. I'd love to see that pendulum switch back to where teachers are revered and honored, uh, where teaching is a coveted profession, where we have multiple applicants for a position instead of having a vacancy that stays posted for ages and we can't find somebody. I think we can get back there as a state. Um, we used to be known as a leader in in education among the states, and I think North Carolina can get back to that point.

SPEAKER_00 20:12

Yeah, I agree, Jan. And just to to say this as well, the question was geared around what's happening during the school day, not even accounting for how many of our school personnel stay after school to do the sports or to watch the game or to coach or a you know be a part of a prom cele celebration. And so there is this life passion that educators bring, and to see our state come back to that spirit of honor and reverence and to pay accordingly would be a beautiful testament. And we could be a leader nationally by how we respond to this, because we certainly have quality educators across our schools in North Carolina.

SPEAKER_01 20:59

We do. Amen. I I have hope for that.

SPEAKER_00 21:03

Me too, me too. Well, thank you so much for sharing your insights today and for the powerful call to action you've given to educators and communities across our states to be ambassadors, to have those conversations, to know their facts, to subscribe to places where they can get that information easily and quickly, and of course, to continue to love children and community as they already do in a way that's deeper by serving as an ambassador and advocate for them. And to our listeners today, thank you for joining us for this episode of Lead Lift and Inspire. This officially wraps up season one, and I'm excited to share that the podcast has been funded for a second season. Season two will launch in August 2026. And Jan, I can't wait to have you back on the podcast for us to dig into some even deeper topics.

SPEAKER_01 21:56

It would be my honor, Tracy, and congratulations on having a second season come.

SPEAKER_00 22:00

up thank you so much well listeners until then keep leading keep lifting and keep inspiring