How to Find the Best Wake County Schools?

Raleigh is located in the Wake County School System (WCSS). However, Wake County is made up of the twelve separate communities: Raleigh being centrally located; Cary, Apex, Morrisville to the West; Holly Springs, Fuquay-Varina and Garner to the South; Knightdale, Wendell, and Zebulon to the East, and Rolesville, Wake Forest to the North. WCSS is of the largest school districts in the country (number 15th) with over 161,000 students, 191 schools and an operating budget of close to $1.74 billion dollars. 

WCSS remains the number one in the nation in Board Certified Teachers (1,486 as July 2020)--the "gold standard" in teaching. 

Throughout the WCSS, you'll find charter schools, magnet schools and traditional schools and more, plus two different types of attendance schedules with year around with various "track outs" and/or traditional schedule schools with summers off. Plus as of 2021, they also have a full virtual academy as well.  Here's the full list of options here. 

The biggest obstacle I see with parents considering where to live is school assignments. Type in an address here to determine which schools your current or prospective home are assigned. 

Unfortunately, some parents experience that their assigned base schools have reached the maximum number of students they can effectively teach and this is called "capped."

What does a "capped" school mean?

Schools with enrollment caps are experiencing both excessive crowding and high residential growth in the attendance area. The county's Board of Education will deem the school as "capped" and your child(ren) will be assigned an alternative, overflow school. Thankfully, the county will still provide your child transportation to their overflow school. Once a school reaches this total enrollment number, any new families who move into the base attendance area may be assigned to an overflow school. 

Enrollment caps begin on different dates for different schools, so Families should contact the school’s data manager to find out the effective date of the enrollment cap.

Exceptions to the Rule:

• You have established residency in the school’s base attendance area before the date the enrollment cap was placed or April 1st, whichever comes first. 
• You have a rising kindergartner students who pre-register for the upcoming school AND meet the above rule.
• You are full time WCSS employee currently working at the capped school 
• You are interested in a magnet schools within the capped school, as enrollment cap does not affect the number of magnet seats.

Wait? How do I establish residency? WCSS requires you to be living in your home at the time of enrollment by bringing current utility bills (gas, water, or electric), closing papers on a new home purchase, or a lease.  They want to see "your initial date of domicile." Unfortunately, if you are under contract waiting for to close your new home are not accepted as proof of residency.

You are welcome to apply for a school transfer once you have been assigned a school as well.

For additional WCSS school assignment questions, call 919-431-7333 or check out their FAQ page. Full list of contact numbers below.

So with so many suburbs and school types, how do you go about knowing which school to send your children to? I recommend two very informative websites and some advise. 

School Comparison Resources 

The first is Niche.com. In short, Niche.com connects schools with students and families. All the parents I have recommended this recourse to appreciate the in-depth school profiles including comparable rankings, test scores, achievements, programs offered, reviews from existing or previous parents and more. 

Image source: Niche.com and school scores as of 8.11.2021.