Wake County Schools outlines 2025–26 CTE local plan; district highlights graduation, credential gains

Wake County Schools staff presented a draft 2025–26 Career and Technical Education (CTE) local plan to the Student Achievement Committee, describing it as the second year of a two‑year plan that continues strategies from a district comprehensive local needs assessment.

"We do this annually as required by the state in terms of our CTE local plan," Joanne Honeycutt, CTE director for Wake County Schools, told committee members. She said the district used a recent comprehensive needs assessment to shape the plan and would return a completed draft for board approval in May so the district can meet the Department of Public Instruction submission deadline of June 30.

Why it matters: staff said CTE concentrators in Wake County graduate at rates above both the district average and state averages and earn industry credentials at high rates — metrics the district links to post‑graduation employment and further education. Those outcomes inform the district's spending priorities and program supports.

Key data and takeaways from the presentation

- Graduation rates and participation: Honeycutt said CTE concentrators' graduation rate is "over 99 percent," compared with the district graduation rate about 91.3–91.4 percent and a state concentrator rate of 87 percent. The district reported serving more than 62,000 unique participants in grades 6–13 and about 25,000 CTE course enrollments in the most recent reporting year.

- Concentrators and credentials: Staff anticipate roughly 6,400 concentrator graduates (about 47 percent of students exiting high school) based on district counts; the transcript states this figure has not yet been finalized with the state. Students earned 29,424 industry‑recognized credentials in 2023–24 — the highest total in the state and the highest the district has recorded. Honeycutt said 69 percent of concentrator graduates left with at least one credential, up from just over 20 percent three years earlier.

- Program strategies: The draft plan emphasizes three focus areas: high‑quality classroom instruction and student organizations; career development and work‑based learning; and supports to increase access for special populations, including multilingual learners and students with disabilities. The district described investments in equipment, curriculum, district‑level purchasing of credential vouchers, professional learning communities and teacher professional development.

- Career academies and equity concerns: The presentation noted Wake County has 24 career academies in 19 schools and a district goal to expand academies to all comprehensive high schools. Board members raised questions about access, recruitment and representation: several members asked how families learn about programs, how academies handle out‑of‑area interest, and whether individual academy enrollment mirrors each school's demographics. Honeycutt and other staff said the district works with the magnet office on placement and has ongoing recruitment strategies (direct mailings, website postings, information nights, magnet fairs) and is tracking demographic representation but acknowledged gaps remain.

- Funding: Honeycutt summarized funding sources the plan relies on: state funding that supports staff (approximately $59,000,000 as reported in the presentation), roughly $2.5 million in state program support and about $2.1 million in federal Perkins grant funding. Honeycutt said Perkins federal funds are formula based and that, if the district fails to meet Perkins benchmarks, the state could direct how funds must be used rather than withholding them.

- Next steps: Staff said the draft will be refined as final Department of Public Instruction data arrive and that the board will receive a complete draft for approval in May to meet the June 30 submission deadline.

Quotes from committee members and staff are drawn verbatim from the meeting transcript and attributed to speakers who appeared in the discussion. The transcript shows questions from Board members Michael Swanson, Mark Haggerty, Roger Hershey, Johnson and others about outreach, academy access, student engagement and measures of program impact.

No formal vote on the CTE plan was recorded in the transcript; the presentation was received for feedback and scheduled to return for a vote in May.