Who will lead Wake schools? Democrats and GOP vie for the majority on board

North Carolina’s largest school system could continue to be led by a Democratic majority or flip this fall to a Republican majority for the first time in more than a decade.

Five of the nine Wake County school board seats are on the Nov. 5 ballot. If a slate of four conservative candidates wins it would shift the officially non-partisan board from a 7-2 Democratic majority to a 5-4 Republican majority.

The board held a 5-4 Republican majority for two years after the 2009 election. Since then, Wake has elected mostly Democratic candidates to state and county office.

The board sets policies for the district which has 160,000 students and is the 15th largest in the nation. Wake has an annual operating budget of $2.2 billion. Whoever is in the majority after this fall’s election could exert even more influence. Vice chair Monika Johnson-Hostler is favored to win a General Assembly seat, which would mean the other board members would pick her successor.




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