GOP candidate: What parents tell me about why they’re leaving Wake schools | Opinion

Editor’s note: The writer is a Republican candidate for Congress in N.C. Dist. 13.

The recent news about lifting of enrollment caps at some Wake County public schools obscures a harsher fact. While certain portions of the county are growing rapidly, as a whole Wake County is losing public school enrollment.

During the 2022-23 school year, the Wake County school system maintained a roster of 158,412 students, below its pre-pandemic high of 161,907. The school system’s share of the county’s students has fallen from 83% to 76% over the past decade.

These enrollment shortfalls represent middle-income families increasingly choosing charter, private and homeschooling options — in other words, voting with their feet.

The reasons why parents choose to leave the public school system are myriad. But I want to highlight one reason: As the Republican legislature increases private school incentives for lower-income parents through Opportunity Scholarships, Wake County’s public schools have not offered enough to entice middle-class parents to keep their kids in public school.

Wake’s 2023 Grades 3-8 math proficiency is at 63.1%, down from 65.4% in 2019. Its 2023 reading proficiency is at 60.9%, down from 64.9% in 2019. Getting back to pre-pandemic level achievement has been slow going, with the anticipated spike in scores post-COVID simply not appearing.

Wake parents that I have spoken to say they are also returning to a school system with fewer options for their children than before the pandemic. With Duke University eliminating its Talent Identification Program during the pandemic, gifted and talented students lack opportunities to pursue individualized instruction. As a solution, Wake could adopt accommodations similar to those in Moore County, which offers hybrid and community college options for gifted math students.

Parents I’ve spoken to also worry increasingly about school safety in Wake schools. The Nov. 27 stabbing of a 15-year-old Wake County high school student by a 14-year-old suspect capped a rough year of school violence in Wake schools. Teachers, who are primarily trained to help students learn, are not generally qualified to keep classrooms in order. And, parents are realizing that schools are becoming targets.

Wake County invested in a background check service to identify school visitors, but has been less than forthcoming on its plans to put in school resource officers (SROs) in elementary schools where they are needed. Wake County should invest in metal detectors and SROs, just as neighboring counties like Johnston County have.

If the Wake County school system continues to fall short of its enrollment goals, it may face looming budget cuts as funding is typically doled out per pupil, resulting in potential layoffs of teachers and other staff.

Wake County school officials talk as if it’s a blue-chip school district, but the reality of its stagnating enrollment belies its boasts.

North Carolina needs healthy, functioning public school districts to educate its workforce. And the school system needs to adopt a parent-friendly approach that shows their sincere desire to win back the families they lost over the pandemic.