BRUNSWICK COUNTY — Under a newly amended policy, Brunswick County teachers can no longer use crowdfunding sites like GoFundMe for classroom supplies unless approved by school administration.
Brunswick County School District is the last in the tri-county to make the amendment to its fundraising and solicitation policy.
Chief Finance Officer Cherie Wisse told the board last month during a committee meeting the new policy was to ensure teachers knew materials were available to them from the district.
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“We were finding that teachers were out requesting items that they didn’t necessarily need to request from the general public, that we provided,” Wisse said, noting materials like tissues, hand sanitizer and disinfectant were all available through the district.
However, board member Steven Barger was skeptical over what prompted the policy change.
“Was this change initiated because of complaints?” Barger asked at last month’s policy meeting. “How did we get to this?”
Wisse didn’t point to an inciting incident in the meeting.
A spokesperson for the district, Ben Strauss, told Port City Daily the policy was not revised to address a specific teacher or classroom. Strauss did not confirm if a parent complaint about fundraising had been made.
“We do not want to speculate about the details of that individual situation beyond what was discussed during the public committee meeting,” Strauss said.
During last month’s meeting, Wisse mentioned to Barger sometimes materials donated to classrooms didn’t always meet school regulations. For example, carpets, often used for story time, may not meet fire code, computers may not connect to the school network, and reading materials aren’t up to policy standards.
The new policy will ensure donations meet district specifications. The policy instructs material requests have to be emailed to school admin first. Their asks will be reviewed by the school principal.
“Having the request go through the principal helps prevent a parent or community member from purchasing something that ultimately cannot be used,” Strauss told Port City Daily.
Brian Rupp — a Democratic candidate running to represent District 5 on the school board and parent to a Brunswick County Schools sophomore — told Port City Daily Tuesday he thought there was a better way to handle fears over material regulation rather than adding a new policy.
“I think as a board, keeping our head in the sand about the plight of our teachers is irresponsible,” Rupp said. “Rather than put policies like this forward, we can say these are the common things that teachers ask for. Here are the ones that we suggest you buy because they meet our standards.”
Rupp thought a solution could be as simple as sending a short email or Facebook post.
“We feel like we do a really good job for providing for the needs of our teachers,” Superintendent Dale Cole said during the July meeting. “We just wanna make sure that our teachers go through the process of asking us for what they need before maybe they go out to the general public to ask for things, cause we feel like we meet the needs.”
At last month’s committee meeting, Wisse stated each school has a “significant amount of funding” for supply allotments.
In the fiscal year 2027 budget, there isn’t a line item denoting school supplies. Strauss told Port City Daily that schools get supply funding through multiple sources but the primary supply budgets are based on schools’ average daily membership. Last year, the allotment was approximately $60 per student.
During fiscal year 2025, Brunswick County ranked 16th in the state for local funding of public schools out of the 115 public school districts, according to the county budget documents. Brunswick County ranked 63 in the state for its per-pupil expenditure of $12,745.26
Rupp said about teachers: “We’re not giving them the tools to do the job we’re asking them to do.”
He thinks the new policy will leave educators with “muted” voices. Furthermore, he worries it could negatively impact the classroom, as without community assistance, teachers will run out of materials “quickly.”
A 2025 report conducted by CouponBirds, an online coupon aggregator that posts annual reports on teacher spending, North Carolina teachers ranked second in the nation for out-of-pocket classroom funding. Teachers spent an average of $1,632 of their own money annually — $611 above the national average. The rate was up 22% from the previous year’s average of $1,338.
The amendment was officially passed by the Brunswick County Board of Education unanimously as part of its consent agenda during the Tuesday, Aug 6, meeting.
When presenting the issue Thursday, Board Vice Chair Vickie Smith said: “Staff ensures the effective utilization of readily available resources and prevents the unnecessary burden or sense of obligation on parents or families to meet those needs.”
[Ed. note: The article has been updated since press with questions answered from the district.]
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