Wake County Smart Start asks county for $842,000 to shore up pre‑K teacher pay and 3‑year‑old behavioral supports

Wake County Smart Start asked the Wake County Board of Commissioners’ education committee on March 24 to include roughly $403,000 for NC Pre‑K teacher reimbursement increases and about $439,000 for program and behavioral supports for the Wake 3 School program in the county manager’s fiscal‑year 2026 recommended budget.

The request targets two persistent problems: teacher pay that lags Wake County Public Schools and a growing number of three‑year‑old children with social‑emotional or behavior needs for which providers say they lack on‑site supports. Lindsey Davis, senior budget and management analyst, introduced the Smart Start team and the two part request.

Smart Start staff told commissioners that Wake County funds support both NC Pre‑K and the Wake 3 School pilot. The county currently funds 1,532 NC Pre‑K slots and about 300 slots for the Wake 3 School pilot; Smart Start said total county support across the two programs for FY25 was $7,751,563. Smart Start reported 4,556 applications for the current NC Pre‑K cycle, with 210 children on the verified NC Pre‑K wait list. For Wake 3 School, presenters said 314 children were being served and that, as of March 11, 3,833 children were on that program’s wait list.