Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Education.budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Students, teachers and parents urge Wake County board to restore counselors and question state voucher growth
Summary
Public comment at the April 22 Wake County Board of Education meeting focused on proposed cuts to school counselors and secretarial staff and on rapid growth in state private-school vouchers that speakers said diverts public funding.
Speakers at the Wake County Board of Education’s April 22 public-comment period urged the board to preserve counseling and clerical positions in next year’s budget and raised concerns about the scale of state vouchers being used for private-school tuition.
Sohan Malpa, an 11th-grade student at Menlo High School, told the board changes in the proposed 2025–26 budget would reduce counselor availability and “could have very real damage” for students who need support. Malpa said the district’s proposed counselor staffing would move to roughly one counselor per 450 students from an earlier ratio he described as one per 385; he and other speakers said a 250-to-1 counselor-to-student ratio is generally recommended. "The lack of availability of my counselor ... truly impacted my mental state, and it made me feel unheard," Malpa said.
A number of speakers also raised concerns about staffing in school offices. Malpa and others said the budget proposal included removing up to two school secretaries per site — a change they warned could affect tasks such as absence management, visitor handling and monitoring intercoms.
Daniel Grant King, an educator and school advocate, thanked the board for recent budget discussions and said he will continue advocacy even after leaving classroom teaching. King urged board members to continue “pushing beyond the norm of expectations” and to prioritize students and staff during budget negotiations; he noted the board must finalize a budget proposal in time to present it to county commissioners in mid-May.
A parent speaker who identified herself as Heather (last name not specified in the public record) criticized the expansion of North Carolina’s voucher program. She said district-level data show private-school voucher awards in Wake County rose from about $13.5 million last year to more than $56 million so far this year. She said roughly two-thirds of voucher recipients this year would have been too wealthy to qualify under last year’s income cap and highlighted that some private schools received multimillion-dollar increases: "This year, this one school is getting more than $2,000,000 in vouchers," she said, referring to Cardinal Gibbons High School.
Why it matters: Speakers framed counselor and clerical cuts as safety- and service-related issues that could affect student well-being and school operations. Voucher growth was presented as a budgetary trade-off that reduces state funding available for public schools.
What the board said: Board members repeatedly thanked speakers and highlighted ongoing community engagement sessions on the budget across the county. Superintendent Robert Taylor and board members described upcoming steps, including continued public hearings and preparation to present a budget to county commissioners by May 15.
Clarifying details from speakers: Malpa gave the counselor ratios he referenced; Heather provided voucher totals and specific school-level figures for Wake County. Daniel King noted he will no longer be classroom-teaching as of April 30 but said he will continue advocacy with the board.
No formal board action on these public comments was taken at the meeting; the board continued to consider next steps in the calendar for the 2025–26 budget.
