THE LEGAL ASPECTS OF LOCAL FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN NORTH CAROLINA

ince 1933 North Carolina has used the foundation approach to funding its public schools, with most of the costs being covered by the State. Under North Carolina law, local support is required only for school facilities and maintenance, although the state encourages counties to supplement the foundation program with local funds. Recent figures indicate, however, that nearly one fourth of the total number of current expense dollars consumed in North Carolina come from local funds. While state allocations to local school systems, based on numerous formulas, vary from county to county, differentials in these allocations remain relatively unimportant. However, local expenditures have become dangerously widespread, considering that North Carolina's Constitution calls for a general and uniform system of free public schools.;The significance of these funding differentials becomes more meaningful as they are translated into their true terms--educational disparities. While the questions of inequality and inequity have been avoided in North Carolina's courts, school funding decisions by the State Supreme Court have played an important role in developing the State's system of public schools. School finance issues such as taxation, school bonds, and budget disputes have been litigated in North Carolina's courts for more than 100 years. With the recent rise in local funding, it is not unthinkable to expect the educational disparity issue to come before North Carolina's judicial system.;Analysis of the data found in this study discloses wide variations in the number of local current expense dollars used to support the state foundation program. From a combined city/county high of...