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Two months after state lawmakers cut funding for North Carolina’s Office of Environmental Education, a private college has pledged to revive the program.
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For over 30 years, the office has administered a statewide program that certifies North Carolina teachers to give lessons about environmental science and related issues. But the office, which had two employees and received just $275,000 in state funding, was cut from the $34 billion state budget for the upcoming fiscal year, sparking outcry among teachers who rely on the program.
Starting on Oct. 1, Catawba College, a private liberal arts college in Salisbury, will take over the Environmental Education Certification Program, college officials announced.
“This transition preserves North Carolina’s environmental education legacy and allows an important statewide career-development and community-building resource to continue,” said Lisa Tolley, the office’s program manager, in a Wednesday news release from Catawba.
Cutting the Office of Environmental Education entirely would’ve left some 600 teachers across North Carolina in limbo, as they were working to complete their certifications. The office has certified over 1,600 teachers since 1993.
The office’s two staffers don’t directly teach the training programs; they issue certificates to teachers who have completed the training, which is provided by outside partner organizations, and help with outreach. The certificate requires 200 hours of training within four years, including educational events, teaching and a community project.
Some of the smaller groups who offer this training “really rely on us to promote their programs,” Marty Wiggins, the office’s program consultant, told The N&O in July.
Yet the office has faced at least two previous attempts to defund it — in 2011 and 2017. State Rep. Pricey Harrison, D-Greensboro, told The N&O she suspects that some Republican state lawmakers have misunderstood the office as a push for activism, rather than a STEM education program.
“I’m very grateful that it’s going to Catawba,” Harrison said. “I do feel like it’s a function of state government, but this office has been consistently under attack from state lawmakers, so rather than fight that battle, I’m glad it can keep running.”
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Although lawmakers tried to restate the office’s state funding in a budget corrections bill, the push failed, leaving thousands of teachers on edge. The budget was signed by Gov. Josh Stein, a Democrat.
The state budget cut follows a lengthy history of the Republican-led General Assembly cutting funding and reducing the powers of the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality. In the past few years, lawmakers have hamstrung DEQ’s ability to regulate pollutants in public waterways and revoked the governor’s powers to appoint members to key commissions that set environmental rules for the state.
“It’s really unfortunate that it got to this point,” Harrison said. “The whole subject of environmental education has become so partisan.”
In Wednesday’s news release from Catawba, DEQ Secretary Reid Wilson called the office a “resounding success.”
“Educating children about the natural world and their role in protecting it is more essential than ever,” Wilson said. “The Center for the Environment at Catawba College deserves a huge thanks for taking on the leadership of the program in the wake of the new state budget’s removal of its funding.”
Wiggins said in the news release that he hopes to make a “seamless transition” to Catawba College’s Center for the Environment, and that the office’s email list and calendar will remain intact. The teachers who are currently undergoing the training program won’t see any interruption to their work.
This story is available free to all readers thanks to financial support from the Hartfield Foundation and Green South Foundation, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners, as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work. If you would like to help support local journalism, please consider a digital subscription, which you can get here.
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This story was originally published September 17, 2026 at 3:57 PM.