North Carolina School Boards Association

North Carolina School Boards Association
Basic facts
Location:	Raleigh, North Carolina
Top official:	Leanne Winner, Executive Director
Founder(s):	Guy Phillips
Year founded:	1937
Website:	Official website

The North Carolina School Boards Association (NCSBA) is an organization representing school boards in North Carolina. The organization describes itself as "the essential resource for North Carolina school district leaders as they work to provide a quality education for all students." As of September 2025, all 115 public school boards in the state as well as the board of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians were members.

Background

Guy Phillips founded the North Carolina School Boards Association in 1937. Phillips was an educator who began his career as a coach and English teacher at Raleigh High School in 1913. He went on to serve as a high school principal and superintendent of schools before joining the staff of the University of North Carolina as a professor of education in 1936. Phillips served as dean of the university's School of Education between 1948 and 1954 and as the NCSBA's executive secretary until 1966.

As of September 2025, the NCSBA's mission statement was:

“

NCSBA provides advocacy, leadership, and services that enable school boards to govern at the highest level.

”

As of the same date, the organization listed the following seven core beliefs:

“

The best way to educate the populace is through public schools. The most effective way to govern public schools is through local boards of education which are representative of the community. Members of local boards of education make better decisions when they are educated about their roles and the issues in public education. Legislative and policy making bodies must provide coordinated support to public education School board members must recognize and accept the importance of their roles as educational leaders. Local boards of education are responsible for the education of all public school children; and School board members must make the best decisions for children and the community.

”

Leadership

As of September 2025, the following individuals held leadership positions at the North Carolina School Boards Association:

• Leanne Winner, executive director
• Whitney Wilson, board services coordinator
• Ramona Powers, director of board development & technology
• Dana Roberts, director of finance
• Bruce Mildwurf, director of governmental relations
• Kendra Hill, legal counsel/director of policy
• Donna Lynch, litigation counsel
• Sam Thorp, director of executive search and member engagement

As of September 2025, the following individuals sat on the North Carolina School Boards Association's board of directors:

• Margaret Bradsher, president
• Dr. Debbie Marsh, president-elect
• Carlos Riddick, treasurer
• Jennifer Thompson, immediate past president
• Leisa Batts
• T. Dianne Bellamy Small
• Jennifer Dacey
• Jerry Ethridge
• Steve Gainey
• Chris Heagarty
• Deanna Jones
• Kimberly McMichael
• Lenora Shipp
• Rick Singletary
• Christina Sutton
• Jeff Tatham
• Dr. Anne White
• Dr. Mike Williams

Work and activities

Lobbying efforts

Among the North Carolina School Boards Association's functions is lobbying at the state level in support of legislative goals it says will advance its mission. The NCSBA's 2025 legislative agenda listed the following policy priorities:

School Calendar
Challenge: Tripling in the last decade, roughly 20% of NC’s public school students now attend a school (incl. traditional & charter) that is authorized by law to set start and end dates.
Recommendation: Provide public school units which lack authority to determine school start and end dates with more local control to do so.

School Accountability
Challenge: The current accountability models to grade public schools and incentivize educators are not aligned with what is in the best interest of students. North Carolina’s current formula to grade K-12 schools was proven by DPI and ExcelinEd – the founder of the A-F school grading system – to be significantly flawed.
Recommendation:

• Revamp the current school grade formula of 80% proficiency/20% growth. Support an alternative model, similar to what was proposed by DPI and approved by the State Board of Education in Spring 2024.
• Divide certain performance bonuses among more educators (staff) in a school.
• Shorten End-of-Grade (EOG) and End-of-Course (EOC) tests.

Retention & Recruitment
Challenge: North Carolina’s average teacher pay is below 3 of its 4 neighboring states and 5th out of 12 southeastern states. Further, NC school districts began the 2024-25 school year with more than 8,000 vacancies statewide. The goal is to provide the best teacher in every classroom and the best possible personnel throughout each school.
Retention Recommendations:

• Implement step increases at every level, not just years 1-15 and 25.
• Provide pay raises for every school employee, with an extra focus on STEM teachers, special education teachers, and bus drivers.
• NC’s average teacher pay should be #1 in the Southeast (= top 20 in the nation).
• Provide supplemental pay.

Recruitment Recommendations:

• Expand recruitment programs to address the large number of vacancies and the lack of a teacher pipeline; provide signing bonuses.

Students with Disabilities
Challenge: The current flat funding model of $5,309 per student with a disability simply does not reflect the cost of each student’s unique mandated services and programs. Meanwhile, the State’s 13% funding cap for students with disabilities creates an unfunded mandate for many districts.
Recommendations:

• Implement a weighted funding formula based on the cost of services – modeled after DPI’s proposal (approved by the State Board), following the General Assembly’s directive to study the issue and give a recommendation. NCSBA requests a temporary hold-harmless/phase out for districts facing a decrease in funding.
• Increase/eliminate the 13% funding cap.

School Capital (New Construction, Additions, Repairs & Renovations)
Challenge: DPI’s most recent five-year K-12 school construction report found that capital needs among North Carolina’s school districts ballooned to more than $13B, a 62% increase from the previous report. Over the past five years the State provided roughly 16% of the needed capital funds identified in the most recent report. The fact is that most counties are financially unable to fund a local school construction bond.
Recommendation: Continue to increase funding for new school construction and repairs and renovations.

Pre-K Students
Challenge: Pre-K students in public school classrooms are not counted toward a school’s Average Daily Membership (ADM) funding. Beginning in January 2025, Pre-K will count when calculating principal pay, but still not when calculating ADM funding.
ADM Funding Recommendation: Accurately fund the total number of students attending a school, even our youngest learners.
Challenge: Evidence shows that Pre-K significantly improves readiness in kindergarten and beyond for all students. North Carolina ranks 9th in the nation for Pre-K quality standards but 29th for access to Pre-K.
Expansion Recommendation: Expand state funded Pre-K with a goal of making it universal.

School Safety
Challenge: There were more school shootings nationwide in the past 6 years than in the previous 50 years combined. Two of NC’s four neighboring states have already experienced mass school shootings. Fortunately, North Carolina has not, however, reports of possession of a firearm or powerful explosive on K-12 campuses spiked 60% from 2018-19 to 2022-23 (the most recent data available). Students should be able to focus on learning, teachers on educating, and parents on knowing their children will come home at the end of the school day unharmed.

Recommendations:

• Increase funding for School Safety Grants.
• Increase funding for more School Health Personnel (school psychologists, nurses, counselors, social workers) to address mental health crises and meet nationally recommended ratios.
• Continue providing School Resource Officer (SRO) Grants.

High School Athletics
Challenge: Charter and private schools dominate 1A classification high school athletic state championships. For example, in women’s soccer, LEAs have not won a 1A state title in 11 years, while in men’s swimming, LEAs have won only 1 of the last 7. Charters and privates have a distinct advantage over LEAs, whether it be the lack of attendance zones, recruiting, or scholarships.
Recommendation: Prohibit private and charter schools from participating in the same 1A through 8A classification state tournaments as district schools.

Opportunity Scholarships
Challenge: The General Assembly began to incorporate accountability standards for the Opportunity Scholarship Program during the 2023-24 biennium, but it lacks transparency and accessible information for parents to determine the quality of participating schools.
Recommendation: Continue to implement accountability and transparency for the taxpayer and for parents of students receiving Opportunity Scholarships to allow them to better evaluate and compare educational options.

Hurricane Helene Relief
Address emerging public school needs.

Guiding Principles
During each legislative session there are always unanticipated bills introduced that affect public schools. The following are guiding principles that NCSBA will use to evaluate legislation that is introduced during the legislative session.

• NCSBA opposes any legislation that would violate federal laws or the state constitution.
• NCSBA opposes any legislation that would require school systems to expend additional financial resources without the State providing those necessary resources. NCSBA will continue to advocate for funding for currently existing mandates.
• NCSBA opposes any legislation that attempts to diminish or take away local control and supports legislation that provides additional local control and decision making.
• NCSBA supports legislation that creates safe environments for students and staff as long as it is consistent with the aforementioned principles.
• NCSBA supports providing school districts with funds sufficient to guarantee full funding of all funding formulas.
• NCSBA supports an efficient hiring system for employees that will provide a competitive salary and benefits package for all school employees.
• NCSBA supports legislation, policies, and initiatives that better prepare young children for success in the K-12 education system and in life.
• NCSBA opposes directing tax dollars to K-12 private schools that are not accountable for the public funds.

Notable endorsements

See also: Ballotpedia: Our approach to covering endorsements

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Finances

Ballotpedia was unable to locate financial information for the North Carolina School Boards Association.

See also

• What is an influencer?
• Public education in North Carolina
• List of school districts in North Carolina

External links

• North Carolina School Boards Association official website
• North Carolina School Boards Association on Facebook
• North Carolina School Boards Association on X
• North Carolina School Boards Association on YouTube
• North Carolina School Boards Association on LinkedIn