A bill to study whether North Carolina鈥檚 five biggest school districts might be too large advanced Tuesday.
The House K-12 Education Committee approved , which would create a commission to study whether a school district experiences any negative outcomes caused by a large student population. The bill would also charge the commission with suggesting remedies to any negative impacts identified.
The commission would look at the five districts with the most students: Wake County Schools, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, Guilford County Schools, Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools and Cumberland County Schools.
- Wake County Schools 160,200
- Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools 141,100
- Guilford County Schools 66,500
- Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools 51,300
- Cumberland County Schools 48,400
- Union County Public Schools 41,400
- Johnston County Public Schools 36,900
- Cabarrus County Schools 35,000
- Durham Public Schools 30,900
- Gaston County Schools 29,900
*From NDPI Best 1 of 2 enrollment report for Fall 2024, rounded to the nearest hundred.
Representative Donny Lambeth, R-Forsyth, a former chair of the Winston-Salem Forsyth County school board, co-sponsored the bill.
鈥淚 would tell you 160,000 students in Wake County, just on the surface of it seems too many to me,鈥� Lambeth said.
Lambeth said he's aware that critics of the bill have suggested it's an attempt to break up large school districts.
鈥淎nd I keep saying, 鈥楴o, this is a study bill,鈥� Lambeth said. 鈥淭he impetus behind the study bill is simply to determine if large districts or small districts function better.鈥�
Representative Julie von Haefen, D-Wake, pointed out that the legislature already conducted a similar study in 2017 that was focused on the possibility of dividing large school districts. That commission鈥檚 found that school district size doesn't have an effect on students' academic outcomes, but does reduce per-student costs for some services. That commission did not recommend dividing large districts.
Lambeth responded that he was unaware of the study, despite having served on the House education committee.
Rep. Laura Budd, D-Mecklenburg, called for the study to also consider the positive effects of large student populations, and Lambeth responded that he would take that suggestion into consideration.
Rep. Cynthia Ball, D-Wake, urged for more bipartisan representation on the proposed commission. The bill proposes that all members of the committee would be appointed by Republican leaders in the House or Senate.
The commission would have nine voting members: a chair; two members each of the North Carolina House and Senate; two members recommended by the Department of Public Instruction and jointly appointed by House and Senate leaders; and one school board member from one of the school districts in question, appointed by the Speaker of the House.
House Republicans on the K-12 education committee approved the bill. All of the school districts that would be part of the study are in counties where voters tend to lean Democratic in elections.
