NEW HANOVER COUNTY — A New Hanover County school board member exited the body’s Tuesday meeting after his request to discuss board raises — approved in this year’s budget — was rejected.
David Perry left the dais during approval of the agenda after he attempted to amend the meeting’s schedule.
He introduced his request by saying the board should “officially” grant itself a raise to comply with state law. The board is getting a 7.8% raise in annual compensation this fiscal year; Perry didn’t say he was against the raise itself, but rather thought the board had not voted on it.
READ MORE: NHCS senior staff to get higher raises than budgeted after contract confusion
Chair Pete Wildeboer cut Perry off, telling him to make a motion and said he would be able to explain after it received a second. The motion failed.
“Really? You don’t let me preamble my motion, and then I can’t give you the reasons why you needed to have that,” Perry said.
When Wildeboer called Perry out of order, Perry turned it around on the chair: “No sir, you are out of order,” claiming the chair was out of line for refusing to let him explain his intentions.
Wildeboer continued to tell Perry he was the one out of order before Perry stood up to leave.
“I find myself excused for the evening because I’m not going to be dealing with people who don’t even follow their own rules,” Perry said.
It is unclear whether Perry was referring to Robert’s Rules of Order, which outlines how government meeting should be run, or rules regarding the raises, though it appears Wildeboer nor the board broke either. Robert’s Rules of Order states a board member should make a motion and receive a second before explanation and debate can begin.
Before he left, Perry said “she” — referring to board member Pat Bradford — was allowed to “preamble” her motion to add a discussion on staff fingerprinting to the agenda, though Bradford received a second on the item.
Perry left and did not return for the remainder of the nearly three-hour meeting.
The board raises were included in the board’s budget, approved by the New Hanover County commissioners in May.
The board of education originally budgeted for a 3% raise, on par with the teacher pay raise New Hanover County Schools expected the North Carolina General Assembly to pass in its budget.
But the state budget that passed in July included the largest starting teacher pay raise in nearly 50 years at 7.8%, more than double the amount NHCS planned for and included one-time bonuses for state-funded school employees.
As a result, NHCS needed to find additional funding to provide all its employees with the state raise, as the state’s funding model doesn’t cover all teachers the school district deems necessary.
The board was also subject to the new 7.8% raise per language from the school board’s 2025 budget tying the board to the average state increase for its employees.
Language from an April 1, 2025, memo to the county states the board “requests that, beginning in fiscal year 2026-2027, its annual compensation increase align with the percentage raise provided to teachers by the State.”
The memo goes on to say the adjustment will be included in the school district’s annual budget requests.
In an email to the board on Wednesday, Superintendent Chris Barnes explained this year’s raise was in line with the board’s previously approved policy..
Barnes also pointed out he was willing to forgo his raise this year and offered the opportunity for senior staff to do so as well, as previously reported by Port City Daily. He said the board is also able to self-select themselves to receive a lower stipend in order to redirect the money toward other district purposes.
Inclusive of the 7.8% raise, the chair of the board is to earn almost $1,556 more per year, bringing total annual compensation to $21,504. All other board members will receive $18,619. If all board members were to return the additional money they are to get from the raise, the district would see a surplus of a little more than $9,600.
Port City Daily sent Perry questions, including if he planned to return a portion or all of his stipend; he did not respond by press.
However, on Thursday after Barnes email was sent, Perry posted to his social media account that the school board cannot reallocate “surplus money” to board raises. He defined any additional money above 3% as surplus.
“That would at least require a budget amendment be passed by the school board that addressed this raise, and then that Budget Amendment would need to be approved by the NHC Board of Commissioners,” Perry wrote. “This has not happened and this raise remains illegal.”
On Friday, Port City Daily reached out to the other school board members for comment on the situation and if they would be returning a portion of their stipend to the district. Judy Justice was the only one to respond by press.
Justice said she and the other board members were aware of Perry’s desire to discuss the raises at the meeting but she chose not to engage with him on the matter. It was her understanding other board members explained how the 7.8% raise came to be before Tuesday’s meeting.
On merit of the raises themselves, Justice said she wants to encourage more people to run for the school board and thus, believes compensation should reflect the work and time requirements of the job. She pointed out the board does more than meet monthly, but members also meet in committees, visit schools, attend events, among other responsibilities.
“If we want an average citizen that has a family or even children in school or not to sit on that board, you’ve got to give them enough compensation to at least help support those families,” Justice said.
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