Educators, administrators, parents and other supporters packed into the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners’ meeting Monday night to talk about money — or lack thereof.

Beaufort County Schools Superintendent Matthew Cheeseman was first to speak at a public hearing about the Beaufort County 2019-20 budget.

“I want to thank you for the $15 million that you’ve given us,” Cheeseman told commissioners, then paused. “It’s not enough.”

Cheeseman made an impassioned speech, touching on the possibility of laying off and/or not replacing retiring teachers, and school closures to make up the nearly $2 million shortfall between what Beaufort County Schools has requested from the county for the 2019-20 school year and what the county has allotted the school system.

The current county budget, which has yet to be approved, calls for funding the schools next fiscal year at the same rate as the current year: $16,821,112. Of that, $14,392,140 is dedicated to current expenses; $765,362 is allotted to law enforcement presence at schools in the form of Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office school resource officers. Commissioners initially gave capital outlay (maintenance for schools’ properties and buildings) $1,115,695, but moved $179,000 from capital outlay to current expenses during budget workshops in May, which Cheeseman also said is not enough.

“I’m now down under a million dollars in capital funding for 14 schools,” Cheeseman said. “Just pause and think about that.”

The proposed $16.8 million schools budget for 2019-20 does not include $2,078,687 the county pays each year for debt service for past schools’ projects.

County commissioners and Beaufort County Schools have been at odds over funding, an issue exacerbated by the recent presentation of a study suggesting some school closures, consolidating student populations with other schools, in an effort to conserve resources. Both Board of Education members and some county commissioners questioned the methods of the report. While the county paid for the study, only the Board of Education can make a decision to close a school.

The Board of Education is considering its options in light of the budget issue, and one of those options is to close the Beaufort County Ed Tech Center, an alternative school for middle and high school students who have not found success in the public school environment, most for either behavioral reasons or they’ve fallen behind in school.

Ed Tech Principal Victoria Hamill made an emotional plea to commissioners Monday evening. Hamill said 45 students will be graduating from Ed Tech this year, many of them victims of extreme poverty, abuse or homelessness, who would have dropped out without the opportunity offered by Ed Tech.

“It’s a last chance academy for so many of those kids,” Hamill said, surrounded by Ed Tech teachers — one wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with “Save Ed Tech.” “Our children that come to Ed Tech will not do well in the regular setting.”

Hamill asked commissioners to consider the consequences of closing Ed Tech, including that lack of education could lead to unemployability, which could impact incarceration rates, for which the county could end up footing the bill.

“If you’ll consider the long term cost versus the short term investment,” Hamill asked of commissioners.

Cheeseman had previously touched on the idea of education being key to the county’s economic success.

“You’re either a community of innovation or retirement,” Cheeseman said. “When you start closing schools, people stop coming. … Make us known locally, regionally, statewide and nationally. The best way to bring people to your community is to get out of low-performing.”

Aurora Commissioner W.C. Boyd, Aurora native Eugene Foy and Travis Midgette, who has coached basketball at S.W. Snowden, spoke about the need to keep Aurora’s school open, in response to information in the recent study.

“The only thing we have left in Aurora is S.W. Snowden,” Foy said. “We don’t even have a grocery store now. When I was growing up, we had three. We had a movie theater. We have nothing. We do have the biggest tax payer (Nutrien) in Beaufort County.”

The Board of Education has not made any mention of closing the K-8 school in Aurora, but residents still fear that may be coming, according to Midgette.

A public hearing is held to determine constituents’ views on a topic; the county is required by state law to hold at least one before passing a budget. Speakers are heard, but commissioners typically do not respond to comments during the hearing. Commissioner Hood Richardson used the public comment period to tell other commissioners they could find more money for the schools if they took a closer look at the continuation budget.

County commissioners will meet at 5:30 p.m. next Monday in a special-called meeting to discuss, make any changes to and, perhaps, pass the budget if majority agreement is reached.