‘Opportunity for higher accountability’: Mecklenburg County Commission candidates weigh in on CMS scandal
Amidst multiple investigations into allegations of financial misconduct within Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS), The Election Hub reached out to every candidate on the ballot for the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners — which provides hundreds of millions in funding to the school system every year — to get their thoughts on the unfolding controversy and how they’ll address it if elected.
In September, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education voted 5-4 to fire Superintendent Crystal Hill at convenience. The move came after a roughly $379,000 independent investigation into her found no evidence of wrongdoing or conflicts of interest.
Hours before her termination, Hill sent a memo to county and school officials accusing Board of Education Chair Stephanie Sneed of sending thousands in public money to former CMS consultant Raki McGregor — without her knowledge or that of the broader school board — via informal contracts. Sneed stepped down as chair, but still sits on the board.
The chaos prompted multiple ongoing investigations, including a financial audit by the North Carolina State Auditor’s Office, a criminal investigation initiated by the Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s office and led by the State Bureau of Investigations (SBI), and an investigation by the FBI. The Department of Public Instruction (DPI) has also launched an investigation into the alleged financial irregularities.
Here’s what candidates said — or didn’t say — about the investigation:
At-large candidates
The sitting at-large commissioners are all running for another term: Vice Chair Leigh Altman, Commissioner Arthur Griffin and Commissioner Yvette Townsend-Ingram. All three are Democrats and running unopposed.
“I am extremely concerned by recent reporting regarding CMS and thank law enforcement for undertaking a formal determination of facts and search for evidence,” Altman said in a written statement to The Election Hub. “The public’s interest is paramount and must be safeguarded.”
Townsend-Ingram declined The Election Hub’s request for comment and said she “will not comment on CMS during an active investigation.”
Griffin, however, pushed for Mecklenburg County to perform its own investigation. At the board’s Oct. 6 meeting, he moved to direct County Manager Mike Bryant to request financial information from CMS. The motion failed in a split vote, with only himself, Commissioner Vilma Leake, Altman and Commissioner Elaine Powell in favor.
Griffin told The Election Hub he wants to know more details about the money that was allegedly mismanaged — particularly money for school services that CMS parents often ask the county to provide stronger support for, like mental health services and extracurriculars.
“Public money demands public accountability,” he said. “And that's not just Arthur Griffin — Joe Taxpayer needs to know [how the money was spent]. Adults created this controversy, and not one CMS child should have to pay the price for that with our teachers, our leaders, our principals being off task.”
At that Oct. 6 meeting, Bryant emphasized the allegations are currently nothing more, and said he's not sure when the investigations will conclude. He also urged the commissioners to wait for the results of the investigations before taking any of their own steps, saying the investigations could inform those next steps and that he has more confidence in the information he’ll get from the parties investigating the school system than what he would receive from only CMS.
The county approved $900M in funding for CMS for fiscal year 2027, which is 35% of the county’s $2.6B operating budget, Bryant said. While counties in North Carolina do not oversee the finances of school boards — that authority is held by DPI — they can still request and review financial information during their budget process “to determine how best to allocate funding,” he added.
Most candidates for county commission who will be on the ballot accepted Bryant’s request to wait for the investigations to conclude, but others aren’t satisfied.
District 1 candidate
Morris “Mac” McAdoo, a lawyer running unopposed as a Democrat for the District 1 seat to be vacated by Powell, said the situation could be a learning experience, and that he is interested in what guardrails the county could put up to prevent a similar issue in the future.
“This is probably the time where we do need to reevaluate…Can we avoid a situation or protect ourselves better in a situation with other entities that we work with, other entities that we have involvement with and other entities that are receiving county funds?” he said. “I don't think it's our direct responsibility to evaluate anything that's going on with CMS right now…But I'm hoping that the county manager's office is at least taking this as an opportunity to reevaluate, check to see what our best practices are and make sure that we are in the best standing possible — not as a result of this direct situation, but other situations that could also easily occur as well.”
McAdoo also said he is interested in exploring additional checks and balances the county could implement to ensure its funds are not mismanaged by any entity.
“We're in a better situation to be protected than we were yesterday,” he said. “No, we can't dictate how CMS uses their funds, but we can say, ‘This is the set amount associated with what we can provide at this time.’”
District 2 candidates
Monifa “Mo” Drayton, a Democrat, and Angela White Edwards, a Republican, are vying for the District 2 seat currently held by Leake after Drayton defeated her in the Democratic primary earlier this year.
After a candidate forum on Oct. 13, Drayton told The Election Hub that she believes “accountability is the first step,” along with supporting monitoring CMS “metrics,” although she added that the county should wait for the investigations’ results.
“I don't think withholding money is the answer, and to get into the personal parts of it, I don’t think that is my place right now either, because I'm not an elected official. But I do think it leaves opportunity for higher accountability,” she said.
Drayton added that “actual numbers” from DPI need to be looked at, to make sure that “the metrics are where they should be.”
Her opponent took a different approach. In a phone conversation about the unfolding controversy, Edwards pointed to an issue she is campaigning on — term limits for all elected officials — and condemned the school system’s “mess.”
“We’ve got to put a cap on how many times a person can be elected and sit in a seat, because you’re on fire the first four years, but after that you get comfortable,” she said. “CMS has their own personal issues but it’ll trickle down into the school system in some way…We’re dealing with a whole lot of lies. We are seeing they’re quick to throw each other under the bus. It’s a bunch of mess. We as families and community members have our own issues to deal with, and we want people to help our families.”
District 3 and 4 candidates
Neither George Dunlap, commissioner for District 3, nor Mark Jerrell, the board chairman who represents District 4, responded to The Election Hub’s requests for comment on the investigation. Both are Democrats and running unopposed.
Dunlap was also not present at the Oct. 6 meeting. At that meeting, Jerrell briefly spoke on the matter before Bryant’s report.
“I know people are looking for something explosive and something to tear down the community,” Jerrell said. “…I hope as a community we are all being forward-thinking or having our eyes where they should be with respect to our children, supporting our families, supporting the educators and teachers, not to tear down.”
He added that the purpose of the report was “not to accuse or point fingers, but to educate and inform.”
“I support your recommendation to allow all the investigations to play out, because I’m not sure what we would be investigating, to a certain degree. I think we have some anecdotal information — potential anecdotal information — but I certainly would like to be able to have a clearer picture moving forward, personally,” he said.
He also said that he, Altman and Bryant had recently met with CMS leadership, and reinforced his support for CMS employees.
“I also think it’s important for us to keep strong ties with our colleagues on the Board of Education,” he said.
District 5 candidate
Charles DeLoach, lawyer and District 5 candidate running unopposed as a Democrat for the seat to be vacated by Commissioner Laura Meier, said he was “very interested” to see the investigations’ results, and that he does not believe cutting or decreasing county funding to the school system is the answer, especially amidst shortages in funding from the state.
“It’s less about cutting funding and more about ensuring that the money is actually going where it needs to go,” he said. “If there’s evidence that the money is being used inappropriately, I think there needs to be consequences for that, but exactly how those consequences play out, again, completely depends on the results of the investigation.”
District 6 candidate
Incumbent Susan Rodriguez-McDowell, also running unopposed as a Democrat, told The Election Hub she was waiting on the results of the investigation, and that she wants to focus on CMS students, teachers and staff.
“All these allegations involve a very small circle of people and it’s just allegations at this point, and we can’t operate in that space. We have to wait until we have the facts. We don’t have any authority over the school board,” she said.
She also acknowledged her vote against Griffin’s motion on Oct. 6.
“I didn't vote for it because I think we need to cool our jets until the investigation is completed. I know it’s not satisfying to people, but we have to wait,” she said. “Hopefully it won’t take too long.”
The election is Nov. 3. Early voting starts Oct. 15.
Rachel Black is a reporter and writer for The Election Hub. Reach her at rachel@theelectionhub.org.
For information on this and other races on the ballot in Mecklenburg, Gaston and Cabarrus counties and beyond, check out The Election Hub. It is a project of the Civic Knowledge Initiative, a nonpartisan nonprofit based in Charlotte that makes it easy for every citizen to find, understand and act on reliable information about their local government and elected officials.
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