In the proposed 2026-27 county budget, Sampson County Schools and Clinton City Schools are expected to see a slight bump in their per-pupil funding and expense budgets, in part due to the joint funding formula established last year by interim County Manager Jeffery Hudson.
Last year, the Sampson County and Clinton City Boards of Education joined with the Sampson County Board of Commissioners in signing a joint budget resolution that, in essence, provides a guaranteed and predictable source of local funding to the schools. As a result of the agreement, both school systems will receive 25 percent of the sum of all property tax revenues and all sales tax revenues not otherwise designated by state statute for education received by Sampson County Government.
According to county Finance Officer Melissa Burton, the total proposed current expense budget for Sampson County Schools for 2026-27 is $11,650,860 . This number roughly equates to $1,532 per pupil. This means that for the next fiscal year, Sampson County Schools will roughly spend $1,532 from their budget on each student in the system. Should the proposed budget pass, the $1,532 would be a slight increase in per pupil funding from last year’s $1,483.
As for Clinton City Schools, its proposed expense budget is $4,418,288. According to Burton, both systems are funded at the same per pupil level, meaning that Clinton City Schools will also be spending $1,532 from its budget on each student. The supplemental city tax for that school district, however, increases the per pupil amount for those in the city system As it stands, the supplemental tax brings in is approximately $2.2 million. Burton clarified that the $2.2 million amount was based on past years.
“We fund both schools at the same per pupil level,” said Burton. “The total amount between the two added together, we have to allocate it based on each system’s average daily membership (A calculation of student enrollment representing the number of school days a student is on the class roll divided by the total number of days in the school year.) So, for the next fiscal year, it’s proposed that 72.5 percent of the total number of pupils in the county go to the county schools and 27.5 percent goes to the city schools. (For the city tax), when we say we’re budgeting that much, $2.2 million, that’s based on the past couple of years. They’ve collected $2.2(million) the year before, they’re already at 2.2 this year. So, if more actually ends up coming in, we will have to go in and budget an additional amount of money so that we can pay the schools out. It’s not really based on anything but past experience. It seems to continue to be going up a little bit over the years. In 2024, (it) was 2,000,000, 2023 was 2,000,056, 2022 was not quite 2,000,000, so it varies. Regardless of what’s budgeted, that amount is going to be paid based on actual tax collections in that city school district that’s on the tax bill.”
According to Burton, in reading the expense budget for the current fiscal year, which ends this June, Sampson County Schools was at $11,605,958 while Clinton City Schools was at $4,281,421.
“If you compare the two numbers between the two years, the county schools expense budget is proposed to go up a very small amount. The city schools went up much more significantly. This is because, according to the paperwork we received from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, the county schools had around 200 outgoing students. That means that their average daily membership went down. In essence, that’s around $275,000 in revenue they didn’t get because of the loss of students. This number is from multiplying the $1,532 by the 200 students lost.”
Burton explained that the current expense budgets for both systems were in large part determined through the budget formula which was established by Hudson last year.
“The current expense budget is related to the budget formula,” said Burton. “The property and sales tax revenue from the previous year, so 2025, is all added together and that total is then multiplied by 25 percent.”
As for the system’s capital outlay, which helps the system’s acquire, upgrade, or maintain assets such as land, buildings, vehicles, machinery, or heavy equipment, $1,309,427 is proposed for the county schools while $496,679 is proposed for the city schools. For the current fiscal year, Clinton City Schools was given $472,568 for its capital outlay, meaning they are proposed to have an increase in funds by $24,111. The county system was given $1,280,932 for the current fiscal year and is proposed to have $1,309,427 in 2026-27, showing an increase in the outlay fund by $28,495.
In addition, Sampson County Schools is proposed to have $527,683 for its Capital Reserve Fund while $200,155 is proposed for the city schools. A capital reserve fund is used to pay for large, long-term asset replacements, major repairs, or specific future capital projects. This would be how school districts pay for certain items such as a new boiler to replace an old, broken one or to repair a damanged or old roof.
“I think over the past year, our team has done really well with doing more with less,” said Sampson County Schools Superintendent Dr. Jamie King. “Of course, we’re always going to want more, but I also understand that commissioner’ hands are tied when it comes to the amounts they can give us. So far our teachers and school staff have been doing well with what we have.”
Clinton City Schools Superintendent Dr Wesley Johnson also gave his thoughts on how he felt regarding the proposed budget for Clinton City Schools.
“We are very elated that our county commissioners, our interim county manager and now County Manager Allen Vann (have helped maintain the forumula); we worked diligently last year to ensure that the funding formula was set in place,” Johnson said. “That funding formula helps set the number (school’s current expense), based on the tax revenue that’s generated from our county. We are excited that the formula is still in place and that sets our revenue so that we can meet the needs of our students and staff and community.”
Johnson also felt that the county commissioners, along with the county manager, were doing their best to fund both school districts. The $1 million allocated to phase one of the roof project for Sampson Middle School was a point of emphasis that Johnson said was greatly beneficial to the school.
“The county commissioners have seen the need that Sampson Middle School is in dire need of a roof,” he emphasized. “They have worked with John Lowe and myself, they’ve sent teams out to assess the roof themselves, they know that it is an absolute necessity. The $1 million that’s been set aside to assist us, the first part of the project is going to be around $1.249 million. I don’t know how much phase two of the project is gonna be, but I would say a similar number to the one we’re talking about with phase one of the project. So we’re excited to have that million, and we’re hopeful that when we move to phase two of the project, that we may be able to get some additional funding from our public school repair and renovation fund that has been set aside for Clinton City Schools.”
According to Vann, the proposed budget will be presented to commissioners at the end of it meeting on Monday night, June 1. After that, a finalized budget will be voted on following a public hearing on the fiscal plan in mid-June.