North Carolina's state budget is now nearly four months overdue. For public school employees, that means the school year started without a cost-of-living raise. And for some of the lowest paid school staff who may rely on food stamps, the federal government shutdown brings new worries. WUNC is sharing the stories of educators who are feeling financial strain due to state and federal policies in the series “From Politics to Paychecks.”
In the school kitchen at Hillside High in Durham, cafeteria manager Angel Parkside is responsible for supervising the preparation of more than 700 meals served every day in the school's cafeteria and at neighboring schools.
"Today we have double cheeseburgers, barbecue baked beans, and sweet potato fries," Parkside explains, as school nutrition staff wrap up burgers.
Parkside is worried about the staff in the kitchen. It's not just the state budget delay, but also the lengthening federal shutdown that's bringing her anxiety these days.
"With not having the budget, we're on a hold, and I'm scared because of not knowing what the federal government's going to do," she said.
School meals are largely federally-funded, but especially so in a district like Durham Public Schools, where all meals are federally subsidized and served to any student for free. Meals served now are reimbursed the next month.
"With the federal government closed down, we're in danger of not getting funding, which would interfere with our pay, what we feed our kids, paying our bills," Parkside said. "It can really affect us desperately."
That weighed heavily on her mind last week, knowing that in past shutdowns, cafeteria staff have faced furloughs and pay cuts. Parkside didn't know what was around the corner.
It wasn't until the middle of this week, in the final days of October, that schools received assurance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that they will be receiving funds for school meals in November. State Superintendent Mo Green sent notice to school districts on Wednesday.
But USDA also announced it will not be funding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for low-income families — and that affects many school nutrition workers.
"Even though they're working, some of them receive government assistance, SNAP — food stamps — Medicaid for their children," Parkside explained. "They were told they would not get it for next month, so they're stressing."
Many school nutrition staff work second jobs, rely on food benefits
Parkside says the news about SNAP has taken a huge hit to morale in the kitchen.
"We've got these holidays coming up, and then they've got to worry about feeding their children," Parkside said.
It's a cold irony for the women in the kitchen who spend their day feeding other people's children. Parkside is worried about losing staff as they search for better options.
"I've got three that's in there talking about getting another job, because this is undependable," Parkside said. "And they love working with children, but it's not paying the bills."
Most of her team in the kitchen already work two jobs, so she means they're considering switching to a different job, rather than an additional one. Parkside says working a second job is common among school support staff, including custodians, bus drivers, and school nutrition workers.
Parkside has worked for Durham Public Schools for 29 years. She started out serving meals like the staff she now supervises. For years, she worked evenings at Cracker Barrel to get by and put her kids through school. Parkside says she "retired" from Cracker Barrel years ago, but now even as a manager, she's starting to look for a second job again.
School employees also hit with rising health insurance costs this year, and no cost-of-living raises
Parkside is worried about how much her own health care costs are going up next year. The state health plan is raising monthly premiums starting in January. Meanwhile, many state employees like her are paying more for out-of-pocket costs like prescriptions, since the state health plan switched insurance providers.
"I'm looking at, at least probably $600 more on my prescriptions," Parkside said.
She’s also looking at an extra $17 a month more on her insurance premium, working out to about $800 more a year for her routine healthcare, while prices are rising on other necessities.
"Power went up, you got to have that. Water went up. Gas went up. So all this stuff's gone up, but we're not getting any more money," Parkside said.
The North Carolina General Assembly has once again left Raleigh, and Republican leaders in the House and Senate say they see no budget deal between them in sight.
"Depending upon the state to take a vote on whether or not we can make a living – a fair living – is very stressful," Parkside said.
Parkside says if she could put in a word with Congress, her message would be: "Y'all need to get it together and open everything back up and quit scaring people and stressing people out."
But at least for now, the federal dollars coming to fund school meals are one less worry for Parkside.
