NC public schools are being forced to close, and more are on the chopping block. Here's why.

Each time the bell rings inside South Granville High School, a sea of students fills the halls.

Almost every table is full in the lunch area.

“It's been different,” said junior Drew Hobgood. “There's a lot of new kids.”

Many of those new kids came from Granville Central High School. That school closed at the end of the 2024-25 academic year and now serves as one of the district’s middle schools.

“It's just an adjustment. People don't like change, but it’s something you got to get used to in the world,” Hobgood said.

Since 2023, Granville County Public Schools has closed four schools. At the end of this school year, Wilton Elementary School will join that list.

“Communities have a lot of identity tied up in schools, and for wonderful reasons. A school, oftentimes, is the anchor of a community, and generations pass through those doors,” Granville County Superintendent Stan Winborne told WRAL Investigates. “Unfortunately, the business side of things often is what really is driving the decisions. Budgets are extremely tight in public education, and we need to make every dollar count.”

Districts across the state are experiencing budget pressures. Based on district estimates, Granville County Public Schools will save about $598,443 each year by closing Wilton.

“The teachers know [the students] and see them grow up through the years. I definitely don't want my child to have to go to multiple schools,” parent Amanda Taylor told WRAL in October. “Maybe this year it's Wilton, then they get transferred in next year, it's another one.” 

Watch: Why are so many North Carolina public schools closing?

At the end of the school year, both Vance and Cumberland counties will also close schools. In Vance County, New Hope and Carver elementary schools will close. Manchester and J.W. Coon elementary schools will also close in Cumberland County.

“[An] independent analysis identified more than $800 million in facility needs across the district, including aging buildings, major system failures, and significant deferred maintenance.  This, combined with declining student enrollment, is driving the need to consider school closures,” a Cumberland County Schools spokesperson wrote in an email to WRAL Investigates prior to the final vote.

The district said savings come from reduced utility and maintenance costs, more efficient staffing and operations, avoiding costly repairs in aging, underutilized buildings and better alignment of capital investments.

The Cumberland County elementary school closures are part of a bigger plan for consolidation.

“The proposed long-term plan would involve redistributing J.W. Coon students between Sherwood Park Elementary and Brentwood Elementary temporarily, constructing a new school facility on the current J.W. Coon site that could accommodate students from all three schools, and then moving all students into the newly constructed facility once completed,” a spokesperson told WRAL Investigates. “At that point, the old J.W. Coon, Sherwood Park, and Brentwood facilities would be eliminated and consolidated into one modern replacement school.”

The Department of Public Instruction tracks school closures each fiscal year through its Educational Directory and Demographical Information Exchange tool.

According to that data, 15 public schools have closed since 2022 in the WRAL viewing area. Across the state, WRAL Investigates counted 57 school closures in the same timeframe.

These tough decisions for school districts seem to be impacting everyone – from rural areas to suburban and urban areas.

After previously considering the closure of multiple schools, leaders for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro district signaled that they may decide to just close one elementary school during the May 7 school board meeting.

“Based on the data we've shown, we feel closing two schools would amount to an overcorrection based on current and projected student enrollment numbers, potentially leading to overcrowding in the future,” Jenks said in an email. 

School board members will choose between Glenwood, Ephesus and Seawell elementary schools. A public hearing is scheduled for May 21. A final decision is expected June 4.  

“The dollars match the students, and if they're not in seats in our schools, then we can't keep all of our buildings open. It becomes a financial situation,” South Granville High School principal Ashley Clark told WRAL Investigates.

According to the Education Law Center’s 2025 Making the Grade study, North Carolina spent $12,193 per student during the 2022-23 school year. That’s $5,660 less than the national average. That includes both state and local funding sources.

During the short session, Gov. Josh Stein urged Republicans who lead the General Assembly to reconsider the state’s level of education funding, noting that North Carolina now trails other Southern states despite once being considered among the forefront in education in the Southeast. 

Both Chapel Hill-Carrboro and Cumberland County schools report depleting fund balances as part of the considerations.

“Over the last several years, our district has spent down that fund balance to essentially zero,” said Andy Jenks, a spokesperson for Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools.

In Cumberland County, staff told school board members the district received $9.93 million less in state funding due to declining enrollment.

District leaders also consider the impacts of reassignments and the age of facilities.

“In the early 2000s, [Granville County Public Schools was] somewhere around 9,000 students enrolled in our district, K-12. Shortly after that, when charter schools began in North Carolina, we saw a gradual decline,” Winborne explained. “In addition to that, we've also seen some increases in the number of students that are choosing homeschool, and then with the recent rise in the Opportunity Scholarships, or private school vouchers, we've seen some students choose that route as well.”

According to state data, Granville County Public Schools’ average daily membership is 5,860. He noted that smaller school populations are often not able to use their facilities to their full capabilities.

“You still have to have the same number of clerical staff, administrators, support staff and so on to run the school, but you have many fewer students, so it makes it much more expensive for the school district,” Winborne said.  

For Chapel Hill-Carrboro, the district projects that declining student enrollment will lead to a more than $2 million reduction in state funding in 2026-27.

Not only are some families choosing alternatives to public education, but there’s also a smaller pool of school-aged children to begin with.

“What we've seen in recent years, particularly last year, is an overall decline in student population,” said Nathan Dollar, the director of Carolina Demography at UNC’s Carolina Population Center.

While district leaders grapple with rising costs right now, this change in demographics will likely be the long-term battle.

“Even though it might not be as an immediate effect…it'll show up five years later,” he said.

North Carolina is one of the fastest-growing states in the country, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. WRAL Investigates asked Dollar how and why the state could be seeing this decline.

“Almost all of that growth has been from ‘in’ migration, not from natural change (more births than deaths),” Dollar explained. “Births are declining, and you have ‘out migration,’ and so that can cause hyper aging, and a decline in [average daily membership].”

It’s an issue across the country.

As district leaders grapple with the tug-of-war between enrollment and budgets, Clark said consolidation actually improved and expanded course offers and extracurriculars.

“We have an extensive athletic program. We're able to offer more of the JV sports, and more kids are participating in the athletics,” Clark said, speaking of South Granville High School. “Other changes are that we're offering such a wide variety of CTE courses. We have everything from business to technology to HOSA, the nursing class.”

She said the school serving more students equates to more specialized teachers and more options for electives.