Education:
BA, Wake Forest University

Civic/Community Involvement:
Board of Directors, Life Line Pregnancy Center
Volunteer, Communities in Schools

School Board Members

Representing:

Belville Elementary
Lincoln Elementary
Leland Middle
North Brunswick High School

Steve Gainey, Chairman
District 5

Children: 5

Steve Gainey earned a Bachelor of Arts from Wake Forest University. He serves on the board of directors of Life Line Pregnancy Center and volunteers with Communities in Schools. He has five children.

School Board Members - Brunswick County Schools

Children: 5

Employment:

Business to Business Sales
Restaurant Manager
Real Estate Broker
Brunswick County Tax Appraiser & Land Records Manager

Steve Gainey has worked in business-to-business sales and restaurant management, as a real estate broker, and as Brunswick County Tax Appraiser & Land Records Manager.

Steve has worked in business-to-business sales and restaurant management, as a real estate broker, and as Brunswick County Tax Appraiser & Land Records Manager.

Steve serves as a member of the Brunswick County Board of Education representing District 5.

2026 North Carolina General Election

Proposes after-school and summer reading and math classes to help students make up missed classroom instruction.

PCD: How should the district address two years of learning loss due to COVID-19?
SG: Provide afterschool and summer-school classes in reading and math so students have every available opportunity to make up for the classroom work and instruction that they were denied by unnecessary mandates coming from Raleigh.

Election 2022: Steve Gainey campaigns for District 5 Brunswick County Board of Education seat

Calls for expert consultants to plan for overcrowding, forecast growth, and guide the use of school space and resources.

Steve Gainey (SG): Overcrowding — Overcrowding stresses teachers & staff thereby reducing instructional quality. It is also a school safety concern. In the short term, considerations must be made regarding the best use of available space & resources. Simultaneously, long term planning, using expert consultants, must be pursued immediately. This problem cannot be handled in-house.

PCD: In what ways do you think the district is handling Brunswick County’s growth well — and what could it be doing better?
SG: Brunswick County is one of the fastest growing counties in the nation. Considering that, the local district must be given credit for scrambling, as circumstances dictate, and continuing to do a good job overall.

We must invest in hiring the best and brightest consultants who have a proven record of expertise when it comes to growth forecasting and planning for the consequences thereof. This situation cannot be managed in-house.

As of September 2, 2026, Steve Gainey did not have a website or any information online.

School Facilities & Resources

What are the key issues you want to focus on if elected?

Gainey: Promote careers in tech and trade to all middle and high school students. Ensure the board continually facilitates communication between the school resource officers, their superiors in the sheriff's office, school administrators and the superintendent's office. Appoint a board member to monitor and report on the activities and initiatives of the State Board of Education and the Department of Public Instruction. Fight the influences of Critical Race Theory, social-emotional learning and gender transition affirmation in school and the effort by the Biden Department of Education to extend Title IX protections based on gender identity. Use outside consultants to formulate a comprehensive teacher retention plan and a plan to address overcrowding.

Meet the candidates: Brunswick County Board of Education

Promotes career pathways in technology and trades for all middle and high school students.

- Promotes career pathways in technology and trades for all middle and high school students.

Access to Education

Teacher Retention — BCS, like the state as a whole, is losing teachers. This is a multifaceted problem that calls for a strategic re-evaluation of our teacher supplements and a commitment by the board to ensure that the work environment, i.e. the classroom, is honoring and safe for teachers and students. Behaviors inconsistent with this goal should be met with zero tolerance.

How do you think the district can better recruit and retain strong teachers?

Gainey:This is a critical challenge facing all school boards across the state. As a board we first need to ensure that classrooms are a place where teachers are honored and where they feel safe and respected by requiring students to adhere to standards of decorum and conduct and enforcing adverse consequences for those who choose to ignore these standards. That's not happening now based on the teacher feedback I am getting and that must change. Beyond that we should hire a consulting firm to help us develop a strategic pay plan utilizing multi-year contracts designed to incentivize teachers to stay in the BCS system.

PCD: Do you think schools are adequately staffed? Why or why not? Do you think teachers and staff are adequately paid? Why or why not?
SG: I am not familiar enough with all the staffing roles to know if staffing is adequate or inadequate in most areas. Everyone knows there is a shortage of teachers, substitute teachers and assistant teachers. It is a problem across the state.

Regarding pay: BCS lags behind adjacent counties in local pay supplements. This is a problem if we intend to attract and retain the best teachers and coaches available. We must thoroughly examine this situation with a long-term, strategic view rather than the recent practice of giving out Christmas and performance bonuses piecemeal, in an effort to mitigate supplement disparities.

Calls for a strategic review of teacher supplements and classrooms that are safe and respectful for teachers and students.

Proposes hiring a consulting firm to develop a strategic pay plan with multiyear contracts to encourage teacher retention.

- Calls for a strategic review of teacher supplements and classrooms that are safe and respectful for teachers and students.
- Proposes hiring a consulting firm to develop a strategic pay plan with multiyear contracts to encourage teacher retention.

Teachers

PCD: The school board has faced many calls to offer more parental oversight of curriculum and/or consider banning certain books in schools. How do you promote a relationship of trust between educators and parents and ensure both parties’ roles are respected?
SG: Teachers are employed by the local school district and are accountable to administrators and, by extension, the board of education and, by further extension, to the parents. It is the responsibility of the board, working on behalf of the parents, to establish a work environment and culture that upholds the norms and mores of the community at large and to hire administrators that wholeheartedly buy into that culture and likewise promote it within their schools and classrooms. And they must be willing to enforce it upon uncooperative teachers if that is required.

Outside Influences — The state school board, through the office of the state superintendent and the NC Department of Public Instruction, is embracing and implementing the latest trends in liberal educational thinking (CRT, SEL, gender fluidity, etc.) which appears to see schools as instruments for social engineering, as much as for education.

As a board member, I intend to oppose this threat by regularly attending state board meetings so I can report back on pending initiatives and policies. I will also reach out to conservative board members in other school districts across the state to organize a noteworthy presence of conservative school board members at state board meetings.

Teachers are accountable for what they teach, how they teach and the materials they use in the course of teaching.

And, finally, in opposition to Port City Daily’s stated premise, this has nothing to do whatsoever with so-called “book banning.”

Supports hiring administrators who promote community norms and enforcing those norms with teachers when necessary.

Plans to oppose "Critical Race Theory, social-emotional learning and gender transition affirmation" in schools and Title IX protections based on gender identity.

Plans to attend state board meetings and organize conservative school board members to oppose state educational initiatives and policies.

Supports holding teachers accountable for what and how they teach and for the materials they use.

- Supports hiring administrators who promote community norms and enforcing those norms with teachers when necessary.
- Plans to oppose "Critical Race Theory, social-emotional learning and gender transition affirmation" in schools and Title IX protections based on gender identity.
- Plans to attend state board meetings and organize conservative school board members to oppose state educational initiatives and policies.
- Supports holding teachers accountable for what and how they teach and for the materials they use.

School Curriculum

Supports adding three managers to oversee school resource officers at seven schools each.

There is some consideration being given to expanding the program by adding three additional officers which would bring the total SROs to 27.

I think the change being considered would be an improvement because it would dedicate three managers to oversee seven schools each. Currently, management is being handled remotely and that is not optimal. Above all, the board must take the lead in continually and intentionally facilitating open communication between the school resource officers, their superiors in the sheriff’s office, school administrators and the superintendent’s office.

Advocates for adding three managers to oversee school resource officers at seven schools each.

Calls for the board to facilitate communication among school resource officers, law enforcement supervisors, school administrators, and the superintendent's office.

I think the change being considered would be an improvement because it would dedicate three managers to oversee seven schools each. Currently, management is being handled remotely and that is not optimal. Above all, the board must take the lead in continually and intentionally facilitating open communication between the school resource officers, their superiors in the sheriff’s office, school administrators and the superintendent’s office. Everyone involved must always be on the same page and have the same understanding of the role each plays.

Student Wellbeing

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Steve Gainey

Isaac Brickman

Buket Urgen

Brian D. Rupp

- The Board of Education runs the public school system. They create policies that establish standards, accountability and evaluation of essential operations of the school system.
- The Board of Education member hires a superintendent and can remove them when necessary. The superintendent assists the Board of Education in implementing the board’s policies. 
- The Board of Education is charged with deciding the school budget. This means they decide how to allocate money between different services, such as teacher pay, repairing school facilities, or access to technology.
- Board of Education members are elected every four years. 

Member of the board that governs your county's public school system