NHCS Superintendent Barnes’ 1st Year: $5 Mil. Shortfall, Schooling Students on Black Liberation Values Continue

After One Year Under Barnes, NHCS Faces a Budget Crisis and Persistent DEI Influence in Classrooms

Dr. Christopher Barnes marks his first year as Superintendent of New Hanover County Schools under serious scrutiny for his leadership and lack of financial foresight. The district is now facing a $5 million shortfall for the 2025-2026 school year, stemming from cuts in state, federal, and county funding — an outcome Barnes failed to anticipate and advise on despite several clear warning signs. As early as January 2025, the White House flagged potential K-12 funding reductions tied to DEI programs, followed by the Office of Management and Budget's 2026 "Skinny Budget" in May, which outlined additional cuts. And yesterday, the Supreme Court ruled that President Trump has the authority to completely dismantle the Department of Education, a goal he has publicly pursued over the last seven months.

The Federal gravy train may be done.

Despite clear warning signs about looming budget cuts, Barnes has focused his administration’s efforts on maintaining and expanding Pre-K programs. This initiative is praised by social justice advocates but is increasingly viewed as little more than taxpayer-funded daycare. At the same time, the district’s core responsibility of educating K-12 students continues to suffer, with many students still failing to reach proficiency in basic math and reading. Rather than prioritizing these critical academic gaps, the district is diverting resources to services beyond its primary mission, providing K-12 students a sound education.

Looking back, the board’s decision to hire Barnes truly deserved greater scrutiny. Without considering other candidates for superintendent, the Republican-majority board unanimously replaced the ousted Dr. Charles Foust with another social justice proponent.

Had the Republican board members exercised proper due diligence during the hiring process, the district might be in a stronger position today. A thorough review of Barnes’ academic work, a co-authored paper on equity in standards-based grading, would have revealed his clear alignment with social justice-driven educational reforms. With that knowledge, the board could have better weighed his philosophy against the district’s broader academic priorities.

School Board’s Fast-Tracked Superintendent Hire Raises Questions of Due Diligence, Systemic Social Justice

When the New Hanover County School Board moved swiftly to replace former Superintendent Dr. Charles Foust, few expected the board to bypass any meaningful search process. Yet, that's precisely what occurred when Dr. Christopher Barnes, an amiable white liberal educator, was quickly installed as the district’s top leader without the board even considering alternative candidates.

The controversy around Barnes' hiring is twofold.

First, the abrupt departure of Foust, known for his polarizing leadership style, created a vacuum in the district. Instead of launching a comprehensive search, as taxpayers expected of the school board, the board chose to rapidly promote Barnes from assistant superintendent to the district’s highest administrative post. That fast-track transition took just over seven months.

This rushed promotion of Barnes raises valid concerns of misfeasance, or poor execution of duties, on the part of the board. The decision to appoint him so quickly without due diligence was procedurally flawed and fell short of the board's own promises of transparency, public accountability, and eliminating DEI efforts across the district.

Secondly, and perhaps most significantly, Barnes' recently uncovered scholarly work illuminates a belief system closely aligned with the social justice Equity education movement than it does with a traditional and principled academic. In 2016, he co-authored a doctoral paper titled "Standards-Based Grading: Moving Toward Equality of Opportunity and Advancement of Learning for All Students," a research document advocating a fundamental shift away from conventional grading methods toward standards-based grading (SBG), a practice intended to promote educational equity.

Barnes’ dissertation is deeply rooted in social justice ideology, framing traditional grading systems as a reflection of systemic educational inequity. He and his co-authors argue that widely used grading practices, such as assigning zeros for missed work, offering extra credit, grading homework, and factoring in student behavior, disproportionately harm students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. These methods, they contend, unintentionally reinforce existing social and economic disparities.

In advocating for standards-based grading (SBG), Barnes calls for a complete shift: academic assessment should focus solely on mastery of defined learning standards, removing non-academic factors like homework completion or classroom behavior from the equation. His dissertation makes the case that traditional grading not only perpetuates inequality but directly conflicts with the principles of social justice. By eliminating these external considerations, SBG is designed to ensure that all students, regardless of background, are evaluated on what they know and can demonstrate academically. The goal, in Barnes’ view, is to make education the great equalizer. 

Read the entire dissertation here. 

This progressive educational philosophy, however, places Barnes at odds with many in the community, particularly those with conservative leanings who see such reforms as a threat to personal accountability and merit-based achievement. To them, removing behavioral and effort-based measures from grading risks undermining the values of discipline, responsibility, and hard work in the classroom.

The district has already seen the consequences of using a radical grading policy under former Superintendent Dr. Charles Foust, which left academic standards weakened and teachers disillusioned. Now, with Dr. Barnes at the helm, someone whose academic philosophy continues to be rooted in far-left educational theory, the question remains: did the Republican-controlled school board ever examine his ideology before handing him the job? Or did they simply swap one failed far left superintendent for another without considering the lasting impact on their (the Board’s) credibility?

Barnes' academic commitment to equity and social justice all but guarantees that his far-left philosophy will shape not just district policy, but the very culture and climate of the classrooms themselves. Under his leadership, parents and the public should not expect teachers, like Kelli Kidwell,  who openly say communist ideologies of Angela Davis are legitimate, to exit the school system anytime soon. On the contrary, the district culture is poised to tilt even further Leftward under Barnes.

Despite Foust’s Exit, Have Black Liberation and Nationalist Agendas Continued to Thrive in NHCS Classrooms Under Barnes?

It’s also doubtful that a book like Blended, with its clear Black Nationalist undertones, would have been removed from classrooms if not for the complaint filed by school board member Josie Barnhart. Although Barnhart didn’t initially reveal herself as the one who filed the challenge, she eventually came forward, prompting Barnes to intervene and pull the book. Without her name attached, there’s little reason to believe Barnes would have acted at all.

Under Barnes’ stewardship, educators in New Hanover County Schools appear to have the latitude to introduce Black Liberation or Black Nationalist-leaning (DEI) materials into classrooms without fear of scrutiny or penalty. The handling of Blended was the exception, not the rule, and only occurred because of public exposure. Was the teacher in this case punished? It’s doubtful. This culture signals to teachers that such ideologies are not only permissible but quietly condoned within the district.

Barnes’ first year as Superintendent has been underwhelming and likely deserves a failing grade. While supporters praise his stance on equity and social justice, the district risks sacrificing real achievement for more ‘feel-good’ ideology.

For now, the so-called ‘conservative’ New Hanover County School Board is left defending yet another questionable hiring decision, all while facing a $5 million budget shortfall for 2025/26. And once again, voters and taxpayers are left waiting for any sign that the board’s unanimous decision, which included every Republican board member, to hire another left-leaning superintendent was the right choice for New Hanover County.