Wake’s student enrollment has dropped overall, but pockets of growth remain
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Wake County enrollment dropped by 702 students this school year.
- Apex Friendship Elementary is operating at 20% over its enrollment capacity.
- The school board asked to place a $680 million construction bond referendum on the ballot.
Fewer students attended Wake County public schools this year, but you wouldn’t be able to tell by looking at the neighborhoods around Apex Friendship Elementary School.
New residential housing is constantly springing up by the campus shared by Apex Friendship elementary, middle and high schools.
It’s been 50 years since Wake County and Raleigh City Schools merged, and there’s no longer a guarantee that the district’s enrollment will grow. But pockets of highly concentrated growth remain that school leaders say still needs to be addressed.
“Sometimes I’ll go by and I’ll be like, ‘I can’t believe a whole neighborhood fits there,’” Tara Yunker, principal of Apex Friendship Elementary, said in an interview with The News & Observer. “But somehow they make an entire neighborhood, many times of townhomes, fit. So we’re still growing.”
Wake County growing, district not so much
Growth has been a significant player in the school system’s story since 1976. Enrollment has nearly tripled over the past 50 years to 160,413 students in the 2025-26 school year.
Wake is now the largest school district in the state and the 14th largest nationally.
The growth has brought annual fights with parents over reassigning thousands of students to fill new schools and to ease crowding at existing schools.
Our counterparts on the (Wake County Board of) Commissioners tell us every day that 18 babies a day are being born at WakeMed. That’s a kindergarten class that’s happening daily.”
Tyler Swanson
Wake County school board chairWake County’s growth isn’t slowing down. It had seven of the state’s 15 fastest-growing towns last year, The N&O previously reported.
“Our counterparts on the (Wake County Board of) Commissioners tell us every day that 18 babies a day are being born at WakeMed,” school board chair Tyler Swanson said in an interview. “That’s a kindergarten class that’s happening daily.”
Yet the number of students in the district dropped by 702 this school year and remains below pre-pandemic levels. Planners project the district will grow by only 48 students this fall and by 2,633 students over the next decade.
There’s still enough growth that the school board has asked for a $680 million construction bond referendum to be placed on the Nov. 3 ballot. It would help pay for three new schools, eight major renovations and other projects.
“We are growing, just not at the rate that we would anticipate, and a lot of it has to do with the landscape of choices that parents are able to make,” Wake County Superintendent Robert Taylor said in an interview.
The array of school choices means more than a quarter of the county’s students attend charter schools, private schools or are homeschooling instead of going to a district school.
Top-rated academic school
The town of Apex’s popularity as the state’s 10rh-fastest growing town last year means the area has attracted more charter schools and private schools.
But Apex Friendship Elementary is holding its own against the increased competition. There’s a waiting list of 178 students trying to get into Apex Friendship. Those students are going to Baucom Elementary School until a spot opens up for them at Apex Friendship.
Families are attracted to Apex Friendship’s strong academic reputation and the chance to stay on the same campus through high school graduation.
Apex Friendship earned an “A” school performance grade from the state in the 2024-25 school year. Students exceeded academic growth targets on state exams.
“We challenge our students, we grow our students,” Yunker said. “Ultimately, it is a family’s choice, but we still think we’re the best choice for them.”
Like other schools, Apex Friendship also has to navigate a politically charged environment. As exemplified in the state’s Parents’ Bill of Rights law, critics are looking at what materials are in schools and what’s being taught in classrooms.
“Like all schools, we follow WCPSS Board policy regarding instructional materials. In everything we do, we are driven by a simple principle: Do what’s best for students,” Yunker said.
‘Everything’s big’
There’s a price for being so popular.
Apex Friendship has an enrollment of 862 students, putting it 20% over its enrollment capacity this school year. It’s among 18 Wake County schools that are under an enrollment cap this year, down from 22 schools last year.
Despite the crowding, the school district hasn’t transitioned Apex Friendship to a multi-track year-round calendar as a way to increase building capacity.
Instead, the school does the best it can with its limited space.
State K-3 class size limits restrict how many children are in the younger grades. But class sizes hit 30 students in fourth and fifth grades.
Small groups of students meet in the hallways. As many as 60 children cram into the gym for physical education classes.
“We just do things in a big way,” Yunker said. “Everything’s big,”
Amy Skorich, the school’s PTA president, helps out by serving as the substitute teacher while the regular physical education teacher is on maternity leave.
Things can get crowded, but Skorich said she prefers that to the smaller schools she experienced while growing up in Massachusetts.
“It just opens your eyes to all of the different types of families,” Skorich said in an interview. “It just brings that much more of everything to our lives, and I think having it bigger just allows you to do many more things.”
