2 people, $275,000. NC lawmakers decided this environmental program was too much

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When the N.C. Office of Environmental Education closes its doors, more than 200 partner organizations will lose the main channel they use to reach teachers and the public, while over 600 educators working toward the state’s environmental education certification will be left in limbo.

Gov. Josh Stein signed the $34 billion 2026-27 state budget on July 7, cutting the $275,000 needed to keep the office running. After an unsuccessful push to restore it through a technical corrections bill, the office is now awaiting the official letter notifying it of its termination and expects to formally shut down within two months.

Created under the Environmental Education Act of 1993 to centralize various programs and reduce redundancy, the office had survived defunding attempts before in 2011 and 2017.

This time, its two employees are packing up.

The office doesn’t run environmental education programming itself. Instead, it certifies training already provided by partner organizations and operates the listserv, job board and event calendar those groups use to reach teachers directly.

That role is harder to replace than the office’s small footprint might suggest, said Marty Wiggins, the office’s environmental education program consultant.

“It’ll impact the smaller places that really rely on us to promote their programs,” Wiggins said, pointing to county nature centers and small museums.

Renee Strnad, the Project Learning Tree state coordinator housed at N.C. State University Extension Forestry, said the office’s disappearance also severs the connection between environmental educators and the Department of Public Instruction, which keeps them informed on the teaching standards and practices schools expect.

“This office of only two people really utilized their resources really well and just leveraged what funds were available by working with all the different state agencies,” Strnad said. “We’re really struggling with… what’s the bare minimum that we can move forward with?”

Strnad said losing that reach will make the field more fragmented and harder for parents and home-school families to navigate.

The office also points to concrete outcomes tied to its work, including the state’s high school Earth and Environmental Science requirement and a K-12 Environmental Literacy Plan that Wake County’s Lincoln Heights Elementary used to help turn around its performance scores, earning recognition as a top magnet school in the country.

Mirren Hill, a middle school science teacher, completed her certification in July 2025. The environmental education certificate requires 200 hours of training within four years, including educational events, teaching and a community project.

HIll said she was already anxious about the office’s funding during a previous defunding attempt that fell short last year.

“That really stressed me out because I was so close,” Hill said. “Don’t tell me they’re gonna take all the hard work that I did and eventually just discount it.”

The program has certified more than 1,600 educators statewide, with around 600 more currently working toward it. Hill said this year’s cut leaves her thinking about educators earlier in the pipeline.

“I just feel for the people who were maybe so close, or who have just recently started,” Hill said.

Christine Biela, AP Environmental Science teacher at Stuart W. Cramer High School in Gaston County, used the certification program to learn the state’s ecosystems after relocating to North Carolina.

“Because I had only recently moved to North Carolina, the certification program helped me discover the incredible natural resources, wildlife and conservation organizations that make North Carolina so unique,” Biela said.

Despite the funding cut, people have kept signing up. Lisa Tolley, the office’s environmental education program manager, said 15 people have applied since the budget passed.

Tolley was hired shortly after the office was created, in the aftermath of fish kills on the Neuse River that put it on a watch list for endangered rivers. She watched the office grow to a staff of eight before shrinking, over successive budget cuts, to just her and Wiggins.

Through it all, the office’s own staff say they still don’t know why this cut succeeded where others failed.

“We’ve asked that question, and we cannot get an answer,” Tolley said.

State Rep. Pricey Harrison, D-Greensboro, raised the office’s elimination on the House floor during debate over the budget, and said she has fought to protect its funding for years under both Republican and Democratic legislatures.

Harrison said she suspects some of her Republican colleagues have long viewed the program with suspicion, wrongly perceiving it as an effort to turn students into activists rather than teach them about the environment.

“I think it’s just the idea of educating young people to become environmentalists, even though that’s not exactly what happens,” Harrison said. “That’s the perception… and I feel like it’s a big mistake.”

Harrison called the office’s elimination “silly” given how small a share of the $34 billion budget its funding represented. She said the office could still be revived when the legislature returns in November, though she considers that unlikely.

“They’re getting a lot of bang for the buck and a lot of happy teachers who participate in the program and a lot of happy students,” Harrison said. “I hope we can restore this.”

The office’s priority now is finishing certifications for educators who are almost done before it stops operating. Tolley is still reeling from the news.

“It was like being punched in the stomach for me, frankly,” Tolley said. “It’s heartbreaking.”

This story was originally published August 7, 2026 at 9:35 AM with the headline “2 people, $275,000. NC lawmakers decided this environmental program was too much.”