Beaufort County Board of Education v. Beaufort County Board of Commissioners

MARTIN, Justice.

This action arises out of a dispute between the Beaufort County Board of Education (the School Board) and the Beaufort County Commissioners (the County Commission) over the amount of funding necessary to operate the local school system for the 2006-2007 fiscal year (FY 2006-2007). The School Board requested $12,106,304 and the County Commission allocated $9,434,217. After complying with the negotiation and mediation procedures set forth in N.C.G.S. § 115C-431 (2007) (section 431), the School Board sued the County *502Commission.1 At trial, a jury found that the School Board needed…