Cumberland County Schools serves nearly three times more gifted students than the state will fund, forcing the district to cover about a $1 million funding shortfall using local dollars, district officials said Thursday.
The funding shortfall emerged during a board discussion about whether Black students are being equitably identified for the Academically/Intellectually Gifted (AIG) programs. The discussion prompted broader questions about staffing capacity and long-term state support.
CCS serves about 5,500 gifted students—roughly 11.4% of the district’s total enrollment—based on the school system’s spring headcount. However, the state’s AIG allotment only funds positions for 4% of students in a district.
“AIG is capped at 4%,” said Ruben Reyes, the school district’s associate superintendent of human resources. “We have served at least 11% of our students, but we are only funded at 4%, so our funding is flat.”
Reyes said the district supplements AIG services using local funds and other state program report codes, which are accounting categories used by the state to track how education dollars are allocated, outside of the district’s AIG allotment.
“Based on the AIG allotment, we would be able to fund about 39.7 teachers,” Reyes said. “The district allocates 53.5 AIG teachers so we use local funds to cover the difference.”
District officials later clarified that CCS spends about $4 million total on AIG each year but receives roughly $3 million from the state, leaving about a $1 million shortfall.
AIG Coordinator Aritia Smalls said the district currently employs 54 AIG teachers.
“We need more teachers now,” Smalls said.
Superintendent Eric Bracy said continued growth will require additional staffing.
“If the number keeps growing, we will need more teachers,” Bracy said.
State Funding Caps Leave District Covering $1M Shortfall
The funding shortfall sparked discussion among board members about whether it’s an issue for state lawmakers to address.
“If the state only funds us at 4% but we identify 11%, and the rough numbers show a $1 million shortfall, I think that’s something to make our legislators aware of,” said board member Greg West. “Hopefully, with enough noise, they will look at it.”
Jay Toland, associate superintendent of business operations, said AIG funding has remained capped for years and added that state funding for Exceptional Children services has also remained largely flat.
On January 13, the school board approved $1.3 million in additional funding for its Exceptional Children’s Services, which serves about 7,200 students.
“It’s been flat forever from my point of view, and it’s a good thing to bring up because a lot of conversations about EC are funded the same way,” Toland said. “Every year we’re talking about how we need more EC funding, and we can bring AIG into that cap as well.”
Who Is in Cumberland’s Gifted Program?
District demographic data from fall 2025 shows 5,114 gifted students, including:
- White: 2,114 students
- Black: 1,312 students
- Hispanic: 804 students
- Asian: 277 students
- Two or more races: 543 students
- Native American: 40 students
- Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 24 students
While Black student participation in the district’s gifted program has grown steadily over the past four years, district data shows a slight decline in the 2025-26 school year. Enrollment dropped from 1,355 students in 2024-25 to 1,312 in fall 2025.
The discussion at Thursday’s meeting began after board members questioned whether increased gifted enrollment includes more Black students.
“Since the headcount is increasing, have more African Americans been added to the Advanced Placement program?” said board chair Judy Musgrave. “I know one time we were very short.”
Smalls said the district redesigned its identification process in recent years to expand access and reduce bias in student selection for gifted programs.
How Students Are Identified
District officials pointed to the district’s Grade 2 Universal Screener as one strategy aimed at expanding access and reducing bias in identifying students for its gifted programs.
This school year 92% of second graders were screened and more than 180 students met the criteria for gifted identification in grade 3.
Smalls said the district has also expanded identification pathways.
“We have created pathways that don’t solely rely on test scores,” Smalls said. “Our state definition says we need to look for kids who are outliers—students who, when compared to their peers, are performing above that.”
She added that CCS has broadened its scope in other ways, as well.
“In the past, the program relied on teacher recommendations—we don’t rely on that now,” Smalls said. “We are a data-rich district. We need systems in place that allow us to identify students, rather than waiting for someone to suggest a student for gifted services.”
Advanced Placement Outcomes
As part of the district’s broader advanced learning programs—which include, but are not limited to its AIG services—the school system reported strong outcomes in Advanced Placement courses during the 2024–25 school year.
According to the State and District Integrated Report 2025:
- 1,921 students took AP exams
- 3,320 total exams were administered
- 2,037 exams earned passing scores of 3, 4, or 5
- CCS students accounted for nearly 62% of all qualifying AP scores in the Sandhills region
While CCS has been recognized by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction as a “Promising District” for gifted education—a designation given to districts showing strong identification practices and student outcomes—board members emphasized that long-term equity will depend not only on identification practices, but on whether state funding keeps pace with student needs.
