Wake schools haven’t resumed tutoring program. Federal funding freeze blamed.
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Wake schools delayed literacy tutoring due to a federal funding freeze in 2025.
- WakeEd Partnership seeks to renew its $120K contract to manage the program.
- District accepts management bids until Sept. 22; October restart remains possible.
The Wake County school system is blaming this summer’s federal funding freeze for delaying the return of a tutoring program that helps young students improve their reading skills.
Federal funds used to offer tutoring programs were released months later than normal by the Trump administration. Wake County school officials say they’re hoping to resume by this fall the “high-dosage” tutoring program where volunteers are trained to work one-on-one with students who need literacy help.
“The district intends to continue,” Lisa Luten, a district spokesperson, said in an interview. “We are in the process of ensuring funds are available.”
The U.S. Department of Education initially withheld $6.8 billion that schools across the country were supposed to get by July 1. That included $8.1 million for Wake County.
The Trump administration announced in late July that the money would be released. But Wake says it’s still taken time to get the funding.
High-dosage tutoring since 2022
Wake has used federal funds to offer “high-dosage” tutoring since 2022. Students work with tutors multiple times during the week for extended periods.
Previously called WakeTogether, volunteers used the Helping Early Literacy Practice Strategies (HELPS) curriculum. The program was suspended last Halloween when a lawsuit led to the collapse of the Raleigh nonprofit that provided HELPS..
The program was rebranded as Level Up Literacy when it resumed in February using the curriculum provided by Read and Feed, a Cary-based nonprofit.
“We had a terrific spring and then we had the federal government funding freeze that supported the literacy interventions,” Keith Poston, president of the WakeEd Partnership, said in an interview.
WakeEd was paid $120,000 last school year to manage the tutoring program. The nonprofit education advocacy group helped recruit more than 200 volunteer tutors.
Program could resume in October
The district is now accepting bids from groups to manage the tutoring project for this school year The application deadline is Sept. 22 so it’s not clear yet who will manage the program and whether Read and Feed’s curriculum will continue to be used.
In contrast, Wake awarded the contracts last year in June when the federal funding was available sooner.
Poston said WakeEd intends to apply to manage the program again. If WakeEd wins the contract, Poston said, it would like to resume the tutoring program in October.
“I’ve never doubted the Wake County Public School System’s commitment to do reading interventions for students who need it,” Poston said. “It’s a priority for the school district. It’s a priority for WakeEd Partnership.”
This story was originally published September 11, 2025 at 3:19 PM.
