CARY, N.C. (WNCN) — The Wake County Public Schools System is looking for solutions while facing the possibility of losing more than $8 million in federal grants.
$6 billion of grants are being frozen nationwide, which could affect children in central North Carolina.
District leaders said the loss of federal grants have caused them to place a hiring freeze on certain positions, including in central services, and restrict hiring for other vacant positions, including English language acquisition. They also continue to restrict spending and travel.
“We know it’s $8.1 million [being frozen],” Superintendent Robert P. Taylor said. “That impacts a lot of our students programs [and] employees that are funded by those particular title funds.”
“[The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction] had sent allotments out,” he continued. “We had planned all of the activities associated with that It’s a tremendous effort to have to pivot ever such a short notice and make adjustments because school has already started for us.
“Not a position we like being in. That is a reality of where we are.”
Board of Education Chair Chris Haggerty said, “We had a young girl who attends an elementary school down the road from where I live. Her and her family risked everything traveling, escaping war, leaving their home in the Ukraine to come to America to start over.
“She gets English instruction at her elementary school after school, tutoring in English literacy,” he continued. “She goes back and she teaches her family members. They are just trying to eke out an existence here in America as Americans. To say we’re going to cut funding for that is just wrong.”
Taylor said the district is looking at its options.
“What we do is show up every day and educate children,” he said. “There are three different levels of funding: state, local, and federal. We need all those funds in order to educate our children. Any time we make a fundamental change in what those funding structures are, it really does impact the work that we do.”
“The one thing school districts continually ask for is the runway to be able to pivot when changes are expected,” Taylor said. “But unexpected changes put children in a very difficult situation. That’s where we don’t need to be.”
Asked what changes families may see this fall with funding being frozen, the superintendent said, “What parents will see is teachers are going to show up and continue to work hard. The work of the central services and the board is to make sure we diminish the impact of what any funding reduction may do.
“That means that is the toughest part of our work to make sure schools aren’t impacted, to identify things we may have to start doing that don’t impact the critical operations of teaching and learning in a school,” Taylor continued. “That’s the focus.”
On what parents should worry about, Taylor said, “Parents should be concerned the resources we need to start school won’t be in place. We’ve got organizations that partner with Wake County, such as the YMCA. They provide afterschool programs. That funding provided scholarships. That’s something that’s going to directly impact parents. That’s something that they need to be concerned about.
“We think about positions that work with schools to make sure teachers have the professional development they need to deliver, to deliver good instruction,” he said. “That’s going to always be a concern if those things are no longer in place. We want to reassure parents our #1 priority is to make sure we replace any large resources that reduce the impact of the work that happens in schools.”
According to district leaders, the programs at-risk are still operating as of Tuesday.
CBS 17’s Mary Smith is an Investigative Reporter focused on Digging Deeper and Getting Answers. If you have a story that needs investigating, send an email to Investigates@cbs17.com.
