SNOW HILL, N.C. (WNCT) — The Board of Commissioners discussed their 2023 budget Monday night, which included a 10.4% increase for Greene County Schools. This comes after Governor Roy Cooper announced a state of emergency for North Carolina Public Schools, earlier last month.

Greene Central High School Principal Dr. Patrick Greene said this came at a time when the district really needed it.

“We’re always thrilled by the local support that we can get, being in a smaller, more rural district, we’ve not been able to have quite as much funding as some of the larger districts have had in the past.”

Greene is an award-winning educator in the county and state, winning Principal of the Year for the state in 2022. He said as the world evolves to rely on technology more and more, so do schools, and that requires extra cash.

“We’re getting ready to go into our 20th year of being one-to-one with devices here in Greene County so that’s always a big financial need for us to figure out how do we continually invest in that,” Greene said.

Although a plan has not been discussed on where to allocate these funds, Greene said he wants it to be put toward personnel.

“Right now, is the time to invest in teachers,” Greene said. “Teachers do really hard work and it’s become an ever-competitive environment so personally I would love to see us be able to put it in the hands of the people who are educating children.”

The budget also included an increased EMS tax to help with emergency services and four additional positions with the Department of Social Services.