For nearly five hours Tuesday night, the Wake County school board grilled superintendent Robert P. Taylor and his staff about their plan to cut $18 million and 130 teacher positions from the district’s special education budget.
In a rare display of unity for a board that often cleaves along partisan lines, every member expressed opposition to the proposed cuts.
“I am not in favor of balancing budgets on the backs of our most vulnerable students,” declared board chair Tyler Swanson.
Top district staff sat at a long table beneath the board’s dais as if they were testifying at a hearing.
Board members took turns questioning and berating them: Why did the board receive inconsistent, incomplete information about the special education budget for months? Why did the district notify teachers of impending layoffs before the annual budget was even approved? Why didn’t staff sound the alarm about dwindling federal grant funds until March, when they knew about the problem in the fall?
“We should have been talking about this for the last six, seven months,” said board member Sam Hershey.
Multiple board members asked district staff if they’d taken time to hear from the special education teachers whose jobs would be impacted. They hadn’t.
Board member Toshiba Rice pondered out loud the possibility of making a motion to fire Taylor. And she wasn’t the only one who made her displeasure known.
“I don’t think the solutions that were offered here really reflect an understanding of staff and family needs,” board member Chris Heagarty said. He added that this isn’t the first incident of poor communication between district staff and the board.
“I would just urge the superintendent … you have to get a handle on this,” Heagarty said wearily. “This is unacceptable.”
Swanson said he’d received “hundreds, if not thousands” of concerned emails about the proposed cuts, and indicated he would not support a budget proposal that included them. To make up the $18 million, he suggested reducing non-academic roles like central office staff or assistant principals.
Taylor is scheduled to present his budget proposal to the board—with whom he is evidently on very thin ice—on April 7.
READ MORE: “Devastating”: Anticipated Cuts to Special Education Raise Alarms in Wake
Community members have a few chances to offer their input on the 2026-27 proposed budget, including:
- April 8: Community input session at Holly Grove Middle (in Holly Springs)
- April 15: Community input session at Wakefield Middle (in Raleigh)
- April 21: Public hearing with the Board of Education (in Cary)
These and other school board events are listed online on the WCPSS events calendar.