The Wake County Public School System should have enough leftover money to operate several federal programs for three months, but not longer without a plan to make some changes, Superintendent Robert Taylor said Tuesday.
But Taylor will have to make decisions as early as next week on what to do about the roughly 60 people whose positions are under contract and are funded by the federal programs. Another 124 literacy coaches are partially funded by the program, but Taylor believes he has more time to decide how to keep them.
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"If we make a decision to support what these grants did not, it means we have to stop doing something," Taylor said.
The Trump administration has frozen funds for several federal education programs totaling $8.1 million for the Wake County Public School System, more than $165 million statewide and more than $6 billion nationwide.
The district will also identify every service that the district is legally required to still provide under federal law, and what it can stop doing, Taylor said.
The White House said it's reviewing the programs and has cited concerns with the way the funds had been used in some places, for example, to benefit unauthorized immigrants. It did not cite any North Carolina examples.
The funds provide teacher training, before- and after-school programming in low-performing schools and English language help for immigrant students, among other programs. They are used to employ 981 people in public schools, nonprofit and state school administration in North Carolina.
"This is an ongoing programmatic review of education funding," the White House's Office of Management and Budget previously said in a statement. "Initial findings show that many of these grant programs have been grossly misused to subsidize a radical leftwing agenda" that helps unauthorized immigrant students, among other things.
There is no public timeline for the review.
The administration announced the pause June 30, and the funds were due to states July 1 for the 2025-26 school year.
Taylor's comments Tuesday come a day after state Attorney General Jeff Jackson joined two dozen other states in suing the Trump administration over the pause. They come nearly a week after Taylor put a 90-day hiring freeze in place in response to the federal changes, the district's second freeze in 2025.
The federal dollars fund about 60 district positions. It's not clear how many are currently filled, but the freeze means any positions that are unfilled will remain so.
"Parents should be concerned that resources that we need to start schools won't be in place," Taylor said. "We've got organizations that partner with Wake County, such as the YMCA. They provide after-school programs. That funding provided scholarships. That's something that's going to directly impact parents."
President Donald Trump's proposal to close the U.S. Department of Education and reduce federal education spending has many supporters, some of whom aren't necessarily concerned about the loss of funds to local schools.
The Wake County Public School System's operating budget tops $2.2 billion, noted Bob Luebke, director for the Center for Effective Education at the John Locke Foundation, a North Carolina-based think tank that favors limited government. A loss of $8.1 million represents less than half of a percent of that budget.
"If WCPSS is having difficulty dealing with the funding pause, we may want to look more closely at the district’s budgeting practices," Luebke told WRAL News.
The school district's budget has been a frustrating topic for school board members this year. The board voted in May to make more than $18 million in cuts for the 2026 fiscal year, while planning to spend more than $40 million new dollars to support opening four new schools and provide expected salary and benefit increases under a new state budget. State lawmakers haven't yet passed a new budget with pay increases, so it's unclear so far what impact a new budget would have on the district.
The Wake school system has had its funding cut two other times this year by the Trump administration.
The district lost a $12 million, multi-year grant for teacher training and recruitment and lost a $15 million, five-year grant for expanding mental health services to students on school campuses.
Board Chairman Chris Heagarty said he's not surprised by the federal funding pause, because Trump has publicly promised to reduce the federal role in schools and shrink federal spending.
"I don't have any confidence that it will come, personally," he said, referring to the funds under review.
The Trump administration has proposed cutting many of the programs and billions more in federal education funding, starting in 2026.
Heagarty said the programs are essential and need to continue.
"We can't just do away with them," Heagarty said. "There are programs that educate and help train future teachers. We need that professional development."
Andrea Ewing Callicutt, parent of a rising Wake first grader, is worried about the potential loss in instruction or staff in her daughter's school. Her daughter is only just beginning to read.
"If she does not get the support she needs in first grade, that could lead to second-grade issues," Callicutt said.
Callicutt is also worried about other children, especially those who need extra services.