Durham Public Schools Long-Range Facilities Plan May Need New Bond Referendum

Durham Public Schools officials estimate that they need $900 million just to bring aging buildings up to modern standards, before even considering new schools, land acquisition, or future enrollment growth.

Add in those growth pressures, and the district expects to need at least another $482 million in construction funding to keep pace with demand during the next decade.

That’s what a preview of data from a recently completed Facility Condition Assessment (FCA) indicates. The Board of Education will hear about that during a work session today that starts at 5:30 as they begin considering a long-range facilities strategy that could shape how, where, and when DPS invests in its buildings.

The average DPS school is nearly 60 years old, and many were built for a very different era of education. About 31% of Durham students now attend charter or private schools, adding another layer of urgency to right-size and modernize the district’s portfolio. And while the 2022 bond delivered $423 million in capital funding, project costs have ballooned, leaving a $200 million gap between what voters approved and what the current plans actually require.

The work session is not expected to include a vote – tonight’s presentation is for information only – but it sets the stage for a new round of community engagement, tough tradeoffs, and likely conversations with county leaders about the next school bond referendum.

What else is on the agenda?

Master’s Pay Focused on Teachers, Social Workers

As part of its effort to stay competitive and retain experienced staff, Durham Public Schools will present a plan tonight to continue local master’s pay for certified classroom teachers – and to expand it, for the first time, to include school social workers.

The proposal stops short of a broader expansion to other certified roles like instructional coaches, coordinators, facilitators, and interventionists. District officials say that while many of those employees also hold advanced degrees and contribute significantly to student success, the budget can’t support a wider rollout at this time.

If approved, eligible classroom teachers and social workers would receive a local supplement equal to 10% of the average teacher base salary, totaling about $7,258 per person with benefits. The overall cost for 2025–26 would come to $2.68 million, which is already accounted for in the proposed budget.

Expanding the benefit to all certified non-teaching roles would push the total cost over $3.4 million, requiring an additional $754,000 – money DPS leaders say they don’t have.

The recommendation reflects a strategic focus on teacher retention and student-facing support roles, especially in the wake of competitive hiring pressures from nearby districts.

Continued Flexibility for Alternative School Accountability

The consent agenda this evening includes a recommending to keep using customized accountability models for two of the district’s alternative schools: Lakeview School and the Durham Performance Learning Center (DPLC).

The move would extend into the 2025–26 school year a locally tailored evaluation system that DPS leaders say better reflects the missions of schools that serve students with academic, behavioral, or disciplinary challenges. Both schools currently use “Option C” of the state’s alternative accountability policy, which allows districts to propose their own performance models for approval by the State Board of Education.

Instead of issuing traditional A–F grades, the DPS model tracks measures like attendance, earned credits, suspensions, participation in end-of-course tests, and student persistence – defined as the percentage of students who remain enrolled in any North Carolina public school through the end of the year.

At DPLC, Principal Kesha Futrell and Assistant Principal Karmen Newton are asking to maintain their school’s current model to deepen their data over time.

“We ascribe to the notion that all students, regardless of where they are in their educational journey, have the right to be met with compassion, respect, and a pathway toward graduation,” they wrote.

DPLC’s accountability breakdown includes a 25% weight for earned credits – a key feature of its credit recovery model – as well as weights for growth (15%), cohort graduation rate (20%), and persistence (20%).

At Lakeview, principal Dr. Theresa McGowan and her team want to keep the same approach for students placed at the school through disciplinary referrals. Their model puts the highest weight on persistence (30%), followed by attendance (20%) and the percentage of students who complete the year without suspension (20%). Academic growth and proficiency round out the remainder.

Both schools would continue using a performance scale ranging from “Emerging” to “Excelling,” rather than letter grades. And if there’s not enough data to calculate a performance grade in a given year, DPS plans to follow a three-year data model, as allowed under federal law.

Private Vendors May Ease Bus Issues

Also on tonight’s consent agenda is a plan to spend up to $300,000 annually on private transportation services to help reduce overcrowding and late arrivals on DPS buses.

District officials have recommended contracts with three vendors – Burrell Transit, Johnson Driving Academy, and Sheila’s Transportation – to provide supplemental student transportation for the next three school years. Bids were opened in March, and these companies were selected based on qualifications, responsiveness, and daily rates.

The new contracts are part of a long-running effort to stabilize student transportation after years of persistent delays and driver shortages. According to staff, all bids came in under the department’s $433,000 annual budget, funded through state and local sources.

Retroactive Pay for Staff Helping Drive Buses

One transportation-related item that could get a public discussion tonight is a proposed pay adjustment for certified and classified staff who’ve been stepping in to drive school buses – a role that’s become increasingly critical amid persistent driver shortages.

Under the proposal, certified (exempt) staff such as teachers or administrators who drive buses would receive $25 per hour, while classified (non-exempt) staff – including teaching assistants and custodians – would earn time-and-a-half for hours beyond 40 per week. These changes would apply retroactively to Jan. 22, 2025, affecting about 40 employees across the district.

DPS officials say the move recognizes the extra workload these employees have taken on, and that all projected costs fit within the transportation department’s existing payroll budget. The total financial impact is still being finalized.

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