New members of the Wake County school board won’t be sworn in until December 1, but district leaders are already looking ahead—to the next budget cycle, the lame-duck legislative session, and the upcoming changes on Jones Street.
School board chair Tyler Swanson said he’ll be watching closely as state lawmakers return to Raleigh next week for the first time since Democrats trounced Republicans on Election Day. Swanson, who was reelected to his District 9 seat in western Wake, said he wouldn’t be surprised if outgoing Republican lawmakers try to make any last-minute changes to public education.
“My concern right now is making sure that this lame-duck session does not try to torch the earth, does not try to do any additional harmful things to damage our state, our public education,” Swanson said. “I hope that they will respect the will of the voters who spoke very loudly on November 3. The voters of North Carolina supported pro-public education candidates.”
Maddie Segal, who was elected to the District 7 seat in northwestern Wake County last week, said she hopes that come January the new Democrat-led House majority will limit the amount of education spending funnelled to private schools through vouchers. But she’s realistic about the challenges; Republicans have made sweeping changes to public education since they gained control of both legislative chambers in 2011. And the state Senate will remain in Republican hands.
“The challenges that Wake County faces are not going to go away because we have a new House,” Segal said. “There’s a lot of moving pieces of legislation that are already going to impact our budget before we can make progress. Some of that’s going to take time to make its way into our school system.”
Segal said she’s been told to prepare for a difficult upcoming school budget process. Last year, an ultimately scrapped proposal to cut 130 positions in special education caused widespread backlash from educators and families. Special education has been top-of-mind for families in her district, Segal said.
“The proposed cuts last year … spooked a lot of people, and I think rightly so,” Segal said. “The community is nervous, like, ‘What’s going to happen with special ed?’ I did a lot of reassuring families that this is a big priority for me. We cannot cut special education and we will do our work to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
The district will borrow $680 million for HVAC repairs after voters overwhelmingly approved a Wake County schools bond. Much of the money will go to the school system’s largest district, District 1, which includes Wake Forest, Rolesville, and three other eastern Wake municipalities, plus a portion of Raleigh. Jasmine Zavala, a former teacher who was elected last week to represent the district, said she was not yet clear which schools will get the funds. She said she’s been talking with families and local leaders, and their concerns vary across the district.
“In Knightdale specifically … one of their biggest concerns is segregation in their schools, particularly with vouchers,” Zavala said. “Public schools here in Knightdale are where students of color go, and it pushes certain families to not go to the public schools in their area.”
School leaders will hear from Wake County managers on the upcoming budget at a work session next week. The board is scheduled to vote on a school reassignment plan for the next academic year on November 17. The plan is designed to address overcrowding at Wake County schools in northern and western Wake County by adjusting base school attendance boundaries and reassigning students. The opening of Morrisville High School for 9th and 10th graders next August year will bring more capacity to the district.
Wake school board members will also discuss their own legislative agenda in light of the new House majority at their winter retreat next month. Swanson said he’s optimistic about seeing new sources of funding.
“[Lawmakers’] constitutional duty is to ensure that public schools are strong,” Swanson said. “And we have not seen that, so I hope they will begin to reimagine the possibilities and also really live up to the opportunities. You cannot be No. 1 in business and dead last in education. That is not a flex. It is an embarrassment. It is a disservice to our students, to our families, and to our amazing educators across the state.”
New and Re-Elected School Board Members
District 1: Jasmine Zavala
District 1 is located in northeastern Wake County and includes Wake Forest, Rolesville, Zebulon, Wendell, Knightdale, and a portion of Raleigh
Newcomer Jasmine Zavala, 31, is a former North Carolina public school teacher who currently owns a restaurant in Wake Forest. A graduate of Wake County public schools, Zavala taught third and fifth grade through Teach for America and worked as a policy analyst for the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission. She holds an undergraduate degree from Meredith College, and a master’s degree in public administration from UNC-Wilmington.
Zavala, the daughter of a Mexican father and Salvadoran mother, will be the first Latina member of the board.
Last year, Zavala ran unsuccessfully for the Wake Forest Board of Commissioners. In the school board race this year, she defeated two challengers, Bonnie Greaves and Sebrina Pierce, winning about 49% of the vote. A registered Democrat, Zavala will fill the seat of the board’s only Republican, Cheryl Caulfield, who did not seek reelection. (The school board is officially nonpartisan.)
District 2: Christina Gordon
District 2 is located in southeastern Wake County and includes Southeast Raleigh, Garner, and Fuquay-Varina.
Incumbent school board member Christina Gordon, 43, was appointed to the District 2 seat in January 2025, after former school board member Monika Johnson-Hostler was elected to the state House of Representatives.
Gordon, a Raleigh native, Wake schools graduate, and mother of three Wake students, is a professional learning specialist at the North Carolina Association of Educators. She’s also a National Board Certified Teacher and taught in elementary schools in Wake and Durham counties.
On the school board, Gordon serves as chair of the Student Achievement Committee and chair of the board’s ad hoc Professional Development Committee.
In this year’s election, Gordon, a Democrat, defeated Republican Ann Schubarg with about 69% of the vote.
District 7: Maddie Segal
District 7 is located in northwestern Wake County and includes West Raleigh, parts of Cary, and Morrisville.
Newcomer Maddie Segal, 39, is the director of industry engagement at The Plant Based Foods Association, a trade association for plant-based food companies.
A WCPSS parent, Segal served as an at-large representative on the District 7 School Board Advisory Council, as well as a PTA member and statewide advocate with School Meals for All NC and Moms Demand Action.
In this year’s election, Segal defeated challengers Amita Gupta and Jacob Arthur, taking about 48% of the vote. A Democrat, Segal will fill the seat of two-term board member Chris Heagarty, who did not seek reelection.
District 9: Tyler Swanson
District 9 is located in western Wake County, and includes parts of Cary and Morrisville.
Incumbent school board member Tyler Swanson, 32, is the school board’s current chair and is completing his first term on the board. A nonprofit consultant and former special education teacher at Enloe High School, the Cary resident has a bachelor’s degree from N.C. A&T and a master’s in public administration from N.C. Central University.
Swanson, a Democrat, defeated challengers Cheryl Alexis and Brian Olson in this year’s election, taking about 59% of the vote. In 2022, he defeated Michele Morrow to become the board’s youngest-ever member.
Swanson’s colleagues elected him chair of the school board in late 2025. This spring, he oversaw his first budget cycle, leading his colleagues in rejecting the superintendent’s proposal to cut millions of dollars in special education funding.
