By Miles Layton

COLUMBIA — Tyrrell County Schools Superintendent Brianna Williams sought to reassure teachers and the public Tuesday that long-delayed salary supplements are now being paid, outlining the district’s financial recovery and acknowledging the hardships caused by last year’s pay freeze during a detailed update to the Board of Education.

“I want to provide some clarification,” Williams told board members and listeners during the meeting. “This is largely for those listening in the public, regarding the supplement. The board voted at our January meeting to release the local supplement of $1,100 for certified staff. That will be paid in the February paycheck.”

Williams said staff had already been notified of that payment and explained how the district is handling the state’s Low Wealth Supplement.

“The state supplement of $5,000, will be paid $2,500 in April and $2,500 in the May paycheck,” she said.

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Williams’ comments come after months of controversy surrounding the district’s decision last summer to freeze local supplements and delay payments tied to state funding.  

Last summer, teachers were notified that the $1,100 local supplement would be frozen. Many had expected to receive at least part of it after an Aug. 19, 2025, email from the interim finance officer stated that “half of local-supplement will be paid in August paycheck.” Two days later, the district reversed course, citing financial uncertainty.

Williams emphasized that district leaders never intended to permanently withhold the supplements.

“I just want our staff to know that it was never the intention of the board or never of my office to withhold supplements from our staff,” she said. “We were in a financially uncertain place.”

That uncertainty, she said, stemmed from declining enrollment, unsettled audits and the loss of federal and state funding, which forced the district to make painful cuts.

“I just want to remind everyone that we had to enact the RIF policy, which we cut sixteen percent of our workforce,” Williams said. “Which resulted in the loss of twenty-one positions. At every school and at the district level, we’ve all felt the impacts of not having those extra support positions and teachers.”

Unexpected Costs and Lost Funding

During Tuesday’s meeting, Williams detailed several financial setbacks that complicated the district’s budget planning.

“Initially, in July and August, we thought that we were gonna have to pay $247,000 to NERSBA,” she said. “Multiple school districts, and we actually did receive that money back. It all came back in one lump sum, PRC094, in a specific state allotment.”

Even after recovering that funding, the district had to navigate strict accounting rules.

“Now, we’re having to figure out, with using the chart of accounts, what can be paid for out of that O94 PRC,” Williams said.

She also described concerns over losing major state support for cooperative high school programs.

“Initially, we also thought we were losing $200,000 of Cooperative Innovative High School funds,” she said. “So starting the year, our nine million-dollar budget, we began this year thinking we were in a $1.5 million dollar budget difference from where we operated last year.”

Faced with that projected shortfall, the board opted to freeze supplements.

“So when the board chose to freeze the supplements, it was never our intention to not pay those supplements, knowing that we had until spring to send out further communication to pay those,” Williams said.

Financial Stabilization

Williams said the district’s financial picture has improved significantly over the past several months.

“We were able to recoup that two hundred and forty-seven dollars that was sent to NERSBA, and we were given the $200,000 back for CHIS,” she said. “And we’ve stabilized and kinda right-sized our district as far as positions. Now, we’re finally operating within the black.”

She added that filling state allotments with highly qualified staff has eased pressure on local funds.

“The upcoming state allotments is for the first time in many years, we are actually have all of our positions filled and state allotted positions,” Williams said. “And we have set our teaching, certified teachers on the path of licensure, and we’re actually able to pay those out of state allotments instead of local funds.”

Williams also addressed the status of the district’s audit, which teachers and board members have cited as a key factor in last year’s uncertainty.

“Final audit from the fiscal year 2025, our auditor is preparing the final financial statements, which we are reviewing by eighteenth,” she said. “That final audit report is gonna be reported to the board on March 18.”

Williams emphasized that the district has already begun correcting any issues that may appear in the audit.

“So things that may or may not coming out in the audit, we’ve already gotten ourselves on a path of making action towards fixing those things,” she said.

Enrollment Declines and Demographic Challenges

Williams also highlighted long-term enrollment trends that continue to strain the district’s finances.

“Historically, Tyrrell County Schools has had between 600 and 650 students,” she said. “Two years ago, allotment was based on four hundred and fifty-four students. Last year, it was based on 436 students, and currently, our ADM is at 415.”

She pointed to declining birth rates as a sign of continued challenges.

“In 2022, there were only thirty-eight babies born in Tyrrell County,” Williams said.

Those figures, Williams said, require the district to balance fiscal restraint with educational quality.

“So we are really walking that fine line of providing everything that we need to provide for our staff, our local community, but also ensuring that we have essential programming,” she said, “to make sure that we set up our students for the best possible future opportunities they can have.”

Grants, Facilities, and Safety

Williams used part of her update to discuss recent grants and future infrastructure projects.

“This new school building is gonna be a wonderful opportunity for us to cut back on operational cost,” she said, “and also kind of streamline some of our maintenance facilities and operational expenses.”

The district recently received funding through the Youth in Sports grant.

“We wrote that to a new scoreboard, outdoor scoreboard,” Williams said. “With the building of the new school, we’re looking at rewriting part of that grant to be able to provide some immediate needs for our high school and middle school athletics programs.”

She also addressed a safety grant that includes fencing and signage.

“In that safety grant, there was included a fence for the CHS campus,” she said, “and a thirty-thousand dollar sign, which we can’t put with the current grant until we have the new campus built.”

Williams said district leaders hope future grants will allow them to complete those projects.

Commitment Going Forward

Williams said Tuesday that the district has learned from the past year and is committed to operating more transparently.

“We have made some pretty deliberate changes into how we operate financially,” she said.

In a January 2026 letter to staff, she echoed that message.

“We are committed to transparent financial processes that adheres strictly to Board Policy and state law,” Williams wrote, “prioritizing the retention of high-quality instruction for our students.”

She also expressed gratitude for employees’ perseverance.

“As Superintendent, I would like to thank our staff for the incredible resilience they have shown throughout this transition,” she wrote.

During Tuesday’s meeting, Williams again emphasized that the district is moving in a more stable direction.

“So we are looking like we’re in a much better financial situation,” she said.

Williams says the district is focused on rebuilding trust while maintaining fiscal discipline.

“We’ve stabilized,” she told the board, “and we’re finally operating within the black.”

More from Tuesday’s Board of Education meeting will appear in a future story.