As the 2026-2027 school year approaches, students across North Carolina are starting to feel the pressure of some pretty serious financial changes. The Wake County Public School System is currently trying to find a balance. Even though the district asked for more money this year, they are still planning to make about $15 million in “strategic realignments.” To most of us, that just sounds like a fancy way of saying budget cuts, and for a school like Green Level, it means our daily experience is about to change.
The main reason this is happening is due to rising costs and the specific ways the state allocates funds. As one official noted regarding the complexity of these buckets, “Everybody gets money for children with disabilities, then you get classroom instructional, and you get transportation for activity buses for fuel.” said Mrs. Summers. However, even with those set categories, everything from the gas for our school buses to the electricity in our classrooms has gotten more expensive because of inflation. On top of that, the federal money schools got during the pandemic is officially gone, leaving a huge gap in the budget that used to pay for extra tutors and mental health resources.
For those of us at Green Level, one of the biggest changes we’ll most likely notice is a shift in how many administrators we have. The district is moving toward a more rigid formula for staffing. Under these new guidelines, “Assistant principals, elementary, middle, and high school, they’re saying that if you have between this number of students in school, then you can have 69 months of employment, if you have 2,600, you can have 80.”
The district is looking at a new rule that would limit high schools to only have five Assistant Principles. Since Green Level is a huge school that is still growing, losing even one AP is a big deal. They’re the ones who handle everything from safety to making sure our schedules aren’t a mess, and without them, it’s going to be a lot harder for students to get the support they need quickly.
It’s not just the front office that is being affected, the actual classes are being affected too. The district is changing how they find “specialty teachers,” which means principals won’t have as much flexibility when building our schedules.
For a school that prides itself on having “out of the ordinary” electives in the arts and CTE this appears as a major bummer. If there’s less finding for these “extra” teachers, class sizes in our elective periods will probably get way bigger, making it a lot harder to actually learn or get one-on-one time with the teacher.
The cuts are also moving outside the classroom and into our clubs and sports. We’ve all seen how much the community at Green Level loves programs such as HOSA, DECA, and Speech & Debate, but these are becoming more expensive to run.
Another area that’s being hit is student support services.
While the district is trying to protect special education, they are still cutting back on general instructional support. At a high-pressure school such as ours, where everyone is stressed about grades and college, having fewer counselors is a scary thought. We need these adults to help us manage the stress of being a high schooler.
For years, people moved to Wake County because the schools were known for having the best resources and opportunities. But with cuts to things like literacy coaches and even basic cleaning services, that reputation is being tested.
As the Board of Education finalizes the budget this May, their decisions will follow us for the rest of our high school careers. It’s a tough situation, no one wants higher taxes, but we also don’t want our education to suffer. We’re just hoping the “Gator experience” stays as strong as it was when we first started.
