Wake County Schools to Fund Renovations, Remove 600+ Trailers via Bond

Wake County Public Schools is moving to fund a wave of renovations and remove a sprawling fleet of mobile classrooms by advancing a $530.7 million bond request tied to the district’s multi-year Capital Improvement Program. District materials list a two-year program total of $664.7 million, with $530.7 million proposed as bond funding and $134 million in cash contributions.

At a Wake County Schools Facilities Committee presentation on Feb. 10, 2026, staff framed the work around relief from temporary units and life-cycle systems such as HVAC and chillers as the district finalizes project lists for the bond planning cycle. Staff told the committee they were aligning trailer removals and placeholders for new schools to a November 2026 bond referendum that would fund projects in fiscal year 2028–29, though published reports disagree on the exact November calendar date.

The district’s CIP files identify specific renovation projects and schedules that would be funded by the planned program. Brentwood Elementary in Raleigh is slated to start construction in February 2026 with substantial completion in May 2027 at a total capital cost of $5.5 million. Lockhart Elementary in Knightdale is scheduled to begin January 2026 and finish April 2027 at $11.2 million. Briarcliff Elementary in Cary is listed for August 2026 through November 2027 at $5.6 million. Ligon Middle in Raleigh appears on the schedule from August 2026 to November 2027 at $7.3 million, and Washington Elementary in Raleigh is set to begin November 2026 and complete February 2029 at $5.5 million.

Mobile classrooms are central to the proposal. District staff reported the system currently has more than 600 mobile units providing roughly 19,000 additional student seats, representing about 11 percent of district capacity. The Facilities Committee packet and staff comments tie a phased program of removals and relocations to renovation projects; staff said they will provide the committee a multi-year update on mobile-unit removals as CIP work continues. Renovating a single trailer is estimated to cost about $125,000 per classroom, while removal costs run about $10,000 for demolition and $10,000 for site repair.

The November ballot is expected to carry multiple questions beyond the school bond. The package under consideration includes a Wake Tech Workforce Forward bond of roughly $353.2 million and a separate Raleigh parks bond of about $275 million. County estimates used in planning show each education bond would add one cent to the property tax rate, equal to $10 for every $100,000 of assessed value, or about $34 a year for a homeowner with a $337,000 assessed value. Wake Tech President Dr. Scott Ralls described the college bond as a chance to replace aging facilities, saying, "What that means is being able to replace substandard buildings or buildings that we inherited actually years ago."

Financial pressure underpins the shift toward renovations. The district’s facility expense estimates for fiscal years 2026–27 and 2027–28 are $410.9 million and $421.1 million respectively, and the seven-year plan shows annual facility needs above $400 million. County leaders plan to refine bond estimates ahead of late March and early April work sessions for commissioners, while WCPSS staff will re-present the CIP next month as they finalize project lists for the November referendum planning cycle.