Wake County Schools Scramble for $10.5M

0:00It's April 21st. This is Durham News today, powered by AI. Wake County Schools are scrambling to fix a $10.5 million budget hole after the board shot down plans to cut $130. Special Education Teacher Jobs. Administrators rode out new adjustments on Tuesday. Half from savings and half from trimming programs, jobs and services across the district. These tweaks include pulling $4 million from local reserves to keep special ed afloat for another year, plus 1 million from utility. Savings and community programs. They're also eyeing cuts like reducing high school assistant principals at 11 schools. Slashing enhancement teachers for arts and PE and trimming. Support for low performing schools and tutoring. Teachers and the North Carolina Association of Educators are fired up, protesting outside meetings and demanding no cuts at all. They want the district to push county commissioners harder for funding, especially since enrollment dipped and state aid is shaky in North Carolina's.

1:01Biggest school system with over 160,000 kids. Now, leaders are floating future school closures as a cost saver, estimating $800,000 by merging small elementaries or 1 million for middles, turning them into year round tracks. No specific schools named yet, and nothing before the 2027-28 year. The board set to vote on these changes in a $2.3 billion budget request, including a modest $25.2 million. As from the county way, less than recent years, keep an eye on May 5th for the big decision.