The long delays in the state budget process are hurting teacher retention in rural districts like Halifax County, and it’s just one of the many funding challenges these districts are facing amid uncertain funding.

To better understand how the funding challenges are playing out in rural schools, WUNC News' Colin Campbell took a trip to Halifax County – about 80 miles northeast of Raleigh and seemingly a world away economically. Halifax County Schools Superintendent Eric Cunningham explained how the state budget affects its schools, its teacher retention and its ability to afford new school buildings and programs.

With a growing population and skyrocketing construction costs, the N.C. Department of Transportation needs more help to build and improve roads and infrastructure across the state.

If you’re driving around a high-growth area of the state, there’s a decent chance you might be stuck in traffic – and those daily bottlenecks are only getting worse. The Department of Transportation knows exactly where it needs to widen roads and build new ones to ease that congestion. But with inadequate revenue from the gas tax, construction on those improvements could be years away. DOT has a list of $144 billion in transportation infrastructure projects submitted by local leaders, but it only has $5 billion to spend

WUNC News sat down with NCDOT Secretary Daniel Johnson at the agency’s Raleigh headquarters to get a better picture of the state’s transportation funding challenges, from controversial toll roads to the shifting sands around N.C. 12 on the Outer Banks.

Legislative leaders recently announced state employee raises as part of an initial budget agreement, but how much workers will receive will vary greatly depending on what they do for state government. The State Employees Association of North Carolina, better known as SEANC, says the 3% raise for most state employees is "not going to cut it" amid inflation and higher healthcare premiums. And while some workers like correctional officers, state law enforcement officers and teachers would get more, other hard-to-fill positions appear to be left out.

WUNC News' Colin Campbell spoke with SEANC executive director Ardis Watkins about the reaction across state agencies to the pay proposal. She also addressed concerns about the elimination of vacant positions, decreasing staffing levels even as North Carolina's population grows.