Extreme temps are closing Wake schools. Advocates say more money needed to fix problems.
It was 80 degrees inside Bugg Magnet Elementary School in the middle of end-of-year testing, so hot that teachers were hearing from their very uncomfortable students.
“One student said, ‘Miss, can I go out in the hallway and lay on the cold tile with my shirt up?’” said Christina Cole, president of the Wake County chapter of the N.C. Association of Educators.
Cole repeated the story as told to her by a teacher, one of many anecdotes shared Wednesday evening at a rally and town hall meeting to spur community members to take action.
The group estimates over two dozen schools have been forced to close at least once this school year due to extreme temperatures. They’re asking the Wake County Board of Commissioners to put a school bond on the ballot in 2026 to pay for deferred maintenance.
“We’re focused on addressing facilities issues in our schools, specifically HVAC issues, because those have been so widely felt and incredibly disruptive to the school day,” Cole said.
Last fall, the Wake County Public School System estimated it had over $200 million in deferred HVAC maintenance and replacement, and more than $600 million in total deferred maintenance.
The rally was held at the Raleigh Moravian Church. While members of the public were allowed to attend, media were barred from the event at the request of the church, Cole said.
‘Y’all do your job’
School systems get their funding from a variety of sources, including from the state and county. State law requires county governments to fund public schools’ capital needs, including building new schools and making repairs.
More than half of Wake County’s $2 billion budget goes toward public education. The county commissioners voted last year to increase school funding by $58.3 million for a total of more than $700 million. It was the third year in a row that the commissioners increased the school budget by more than $50 million.
Some of that funding includes items that state law does not require the county to pay for, including salary supplements for teachers and other school system employees.
“I believe Wake County can be a leader in local supplements,” Cole said. “I would challenge the commission to raise the bar and raise the expectation to be a leader here and stand with us, and go to the General Assembly, go to Jones Street and say, ‘We can no longer do this in the long term. Y’all do your jobs.’”
Wake County Commissioner Chair Susan Evans, a former school board member, did not respond to a phone call from The News & Observer about the rally or the concerns raised there. But she’s previously criticized the state legislature for not providing adequate funding for the school system.
“We do what we can,” she said in June 2024, during the passage of the 2024 Wake County budget. “But it’s not fair that our taxpayers and Wake County have to continue to pay increased property taxes because the state is not doing what their statutory responsibility is for our public schools.”
How bonds work
General obligation bonds usually are a cheaper way of financing construction projects with lower interest rates. They have to be approved by voters, and they usually raise property taxes.
There is already a tentatively scheduled school bond set for 2026 but an amount has not been finalized, said Dara Demi, Wake County’s chief communications officer.
School bonds, and other bonds, have historically been approved by voters in recent years. But two bonds failed last year: one for parks in Cary and one for transportation needs in Zebulon. Those failures came on the heels of a Wake County revaluation resulting in soaring property values.
The Wake NCAE is prepared to knock on doors to make sure people support the bond efforts, Cole said.
The last school bond was in 2022. Voters backed the $530.7 million bond that would build five new schools, renovate seven others and make “significant repairs,” including roofs, heating, air conditioning and plumbing.
Each bond typically includes a mix of funding for new and older projects.
Wake County school administrators are warning that the Trump administration’s tariffs on steel and other items could significantly increase costs for construction and renovation projects. This includes maintaining and repairing HVAC systems.
“The public needs to know if this kind of disruption comes, it could completely change our CIP (capital improvement program) and what we plan out over the next several years,” Superintendent Robert Taylor told the school board’s facilities committee on Tuesday. “I think we all have to be prepared for that.”
Reporter Keung Hui contributed to this report.
This story was originally published February 12, 2025 at 6:15 PM.
