NC Superintendent: Without state budget, some schools can't afford Wi-Fi

The department needs another $4.6 million to continue funding Wi-Fi for more than 150 schools that educate more than 14,000 students, Truitt wrote. Many of those schools are charter schools and schools that focus on serving students with special needs.

“Because of this, I recognize the Department of Public Instruction will not get everything we have asked for,” she wrote.

Truitt, a Republican, further noted “the bi-partisan proposals by the General Assembly show the good faith effort underway to create a budget that addresses the needs of all of our citizens.”

She said some money is better than no money for addressing COVID-19-caused learning challenges and teacher raises.

The House was the last of the three to release and pass a budget proposal, doing so in August. But all three different greatly on funding proposals.

NC schools have billions in COVID relief, most of it unspent

The state’s most recent budget expired June 30, 2019, and the state has been operating since on previous budget levels.

In her letter, Truitt listed other items that she said were at risk of shutting down or shifting operating costs to local schools.

Many of the items are related to management systems. For example, the expiration of the state's licensure system contract would prevent DPI from issuing teaching licenses electronically. That “has the potential to cause massive delays,” Truitt wrote.

No budget would also threaten DPI’s ability to transition to the state’s new accounting system, coming in 2023, she wrote. Because the department’s current system won’t be supported coming summer 2023, Truitt said a delayed transition poses “significant risk” that DPI won’t be able to allocate money to local schools.

“If a budget is not signed,” Truitt wrote, “hardship will be experienced, yet again, across our state with severe implications for our students, our teachers, and our school support staff.”