Catawba County Commission Chairman Randy Isenhower
“In November 2024, N-CCS approached the county to request additional local funding to avoid impending budget cuts that would impact the quality of classroom instruction. At that time, Catawba County entered direct conversations with Newton-Conover City Schools about the possibility of a school system merger. The need for more money was caused by continuing enrollment declines in the N-CCS district, which meant less per pupil dollars from the State of North Carolina. This led to Catawba County contracting with McKissick Associates to conduct an enrollment forecast and capacity analysis of the N-CCS district.
In March 2025, the study indicated the district’s enrollment is anticipated to continue declining. Best case scenario shows enrollment flat with current student levels, and the worst case shows a decrease of another several hundred students over the next decade.
On April 1, 2025, Catawba County Board of Commissioners Chair Randy Isenhower and County Manager Mary Furtado met with N-CCS Board Chair Tim Hayes and Superintendent Dr. Aron Gabriel to discuss the enrollment forecast and potential merger of N-CCS and Catawba County Schools due to Newton-Conover’s current and long-term financial problems. Chair Isenhower related his board had been informed of this possibility. Chair Hayes agreed to discuss this potential merger with each of the N-CCS School Board members.
In the weeks following this discussion, Manager Furtado and Superintendent Gabriel had continuing dialog regarding merger, and agreed to another analysis – one that analyzed how N-CCS’s empty seats in school buildings might factor into financial savings for all the citizens of Catawba County to address the growing student population in the Catawba County Schools system. The estimated $40M to $50M in savings for schools construction came from this discussion and analysis.
On June 6th, Chair Isenhower, Manager Furtado, Chair Hayes, and Superintendent Gabriel again met to follow up on months of dialog regarding this possible merger. The agreed upon next step was to schedule small group meetings between this group and individual members of the N-CCS Board of Education about a path forward. Those meetings were set for June 13th. Before those meetings occurred, and as a surprise to Chair Isenhower, N-CCS leadership shared the possible merger through social media.
So, what does this mean going forward? The Catawba County Board of Commissioners does not have statutory authority to merge 2 of the 3 school systems without consent of the systems. A BOC-initiated merger must include all three school systems in Catawba County.
Catawba County Commissioners will not be moving forward with any resolution relating to school merger at the July 21st meeting. The resolution discussion was intended to maintain momentum on this issue. The deadline was intended to help avoid a stall in discussions and increases in fiscal strain. As we move forward, we are evaluating the position of Catawba County government on what our educational landscape should look like to best address student needs and costs to Catawba County citizens.”
Story: Rob Eatwood-WHKY