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“When you lose the school, you lose the community,” a Beaufort County citizen said when chatting with others at the Feb. 3 Beaufort County Board of Education meeting. They and several Aurora residents attended the meeting anticipating the board to discuss the financial status of S.W. Snowden Elementary School in Aurora. 

They were concerned that a discussion on the school’s financial situation might lead to the Board deciding to close the only school in Aurora. Unbeknownst to them, the discussion was removed from the meeting agenda earlier that day. Therefore, the board did not discuss Snowden at all which left Aurora community members wondering if the chance Snowden could close was rumor or reality. 

The Board of Education has not made a definitive decision on whether Snowden will close. However, the Aurora Richland Township Chamber of Commerce posted to social media on Feb. 2 writing:  

“The Beaufort County Board of Education is considering the closure of S.W. Snowden Elementary School in Aurora, NC. This decision is part of a broader effort to address budget constraints and declining enrollment in the area. The board is currently reviewing the potential impacts of this closure on the community. Maybe it’s not a done deal quite yet? The closure of the last public school in Aurora will not likely be a positive impact in the community.” 

Chairman of the Board of Education, T.W. Allen told the Daily News that “nobody” on the board wants to close a school when a merging of two schools is not taking place. 

S.W. Snowden, a K-8 school, has a total of 122 students and 15 employees, according to Beaufort County Schools Superintendent, Dr. Matthew Cheeseman. The school was built in the 1990s, according to the Town of Aurora. “East of the Snowden School is a 1930s gymnasium/shop building (BF 999). A 1950s gymnasium with a barrel-vaulted roofline also survives,” the Town of Aurora shared in a historic district plan. 

Before the Board can discuss Snowden’s financial status, they need information from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) on funding allotments the school is projected to receive from the state, Cheeseman said.  

Snowden’s low student population teeters on state law 2011-145 which says that if the student population dips below 100, the state will no longer fund the principal’s salary; therefore, county dollars would have to cover the principal’s salary. 

Current Snowden students can apply to transfer to either Chocowinity Primary School or Chocowinity Middle, if space is available, Cheeseman said. 

Cheeseman said for some elementary students who wanted to attend Chocowinity Primary School those requests were denied, because of state regulated limits on how many K-3 students can be in a classroom which is between 16-18 students depending on the grade level, per Per session law 2017-9. There are no limits for grade 4-12. 

Snowden has the potential to lose students to charter and private schools. In November, the North Carolina General Assembly overrode a veto by former Governor Roy Cooper on school vouchers, also known as Opportunity Scholarships. The vouchers allow families of all income levels to send their children to private schools by covering all or a portion of tuition.

Which means, Snowden could lose students to surrounding private and charter schools- Arapahoe Charter School, Pamlico Christian Academy, Unity Christian Academy and Washington Montessori Public Charter School. 

Dwindling student population is not exclusive to Snowden. At the Feb. 3 Board of Education meeting, Cheeseman shared with members the number of students the district is projected to lose according to NC DPI. 

Since 1999, the school district has lost 1,954 students. In 1999, there were 7,438 students, but in 2025, there are 5,484 students. The projected enrollment for the 2026 school year is 5,320 students. Projected numbers from NCDPI show the school system losing an average of 164 students. 

“So it’s my projection to you and solely my projection, that Beaufort County Schools could see the potential of dipping below 5,000 students if the trend continues,” Cheeseman told the Board. 

Beaufort County Schools’ student population has declined for several reasons – students have the option of taking college classes and graduating early; many people who move Beaufort County are retired and do not have school-age children to add to the district’s student population, Beaufort County’s overall population has declined in recent years and families can use school vouchers to send their children to private schools. 

Not only is the district losing students, but state funded teacher positions are being eliminated as well. In the last six to seven years, Beaufort County Schools has lost an estimated 53 state funded teacher positions. Seven of those positions are projected losses for the 2025-2026 school year. 

Should the Board of Education move to close Snowden permanently, it could have a ripple effect of more loss in Aurora. 

In an article published in 2019 by The Burlington Free Press and The Journalist’s Resource, the possible effects of closing an elementary school in a rural area like Aurora include but are not limited to lower housing values and a wider gap in income inequality. 

“Home values were nearly 25% higher in small rural villages that had a school. Lyson defined small rural villages as those with 500 or fewer people, and large rural villages as having between 501 and 2,500 people. Home values were 6% higher in large rural villages with schools,” the article states. “Municipal water and sewer systems were more common in rural communities with schools, Thomas Lyson found. He also found the income inequality gap was wider in small rural communities without schools, and that a higher percentage of households in those places relied on public assistance.” The late Thomas Lyson was an author and sociologist at Cornell University. 

Not to mention, schools in rural communities provide social benefits in addition to economic benefits. Events and programs planned by schools to engage with the community help people “anchor themselves to a place,” Lyons wrote. It also helps define a rural community’s culture. 

When addressing concerns Aurora residents have about Snowden’s future, Cheeseman said, “the Board of Education makes decisions about schools not necessarily superintendent when it comes to a potential closure. I’ve not been given any direction by the Board of Education to make any attempt to start talking about school closure…I can completely understand why people in the Aurora area would be concerned. I would like for them to come have a conversation with me, have conversations with board members.”  

Last month, Southern Bank announced that daily operations at their Aurora location would cease in April. In January of 2023, ECU Health announced it would close the nearest health clinic to Aurora residents. Ten years ago, the only grocery store in Aurora, a Piggly Wiggly, closed its doors leaving the town in a food desert. Aurora residents travel to Grantsboro to shop at the Walmart Supercenter. On the upside, construction progresses at the Aurora Industrial Park and Agape continues to build a health clinic in Aurora. Too, Ripe for Revival Mobile Market serves the Aurora community offering fresh produce, meats, eggs and dairy at a reduced price.