This month the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction released performance and growth data for the 2023-24 school year, and for another year in a row, Haywood County dominated regional rankings with the top two high schools in the western region. 

Macon County Schools has spent the better part of a year undergoing a strategic planning process that charts a course for the school system’s future. 

Macon County Schools decided last month to maintain a policy that had been in place — but until now had been enforced sporadically — that bars for-profit entities from using school facilities. 

In the face of rising prices for school lunches, the Macon County Board of Education is set to request funding from the county commission that would ensure all students in Macon County receive free lunch for the coming school year. 

The Macon County Board of Education approved revisions to student and staff handbooks for several schools at its July 22 meeting, with the most significant changes coming for students at Franklin High School. 

After the sunset of COVID-era child care stabilization grants, Macon County Schools will have to increase costs for both Pre-K and after school care in the coming 2024-25 school year. 

Macon County Schools may have to wait until the end of the summer for a decision on the athletic division restructuring coming down the pipe from the North Carolina High School Association. In the meantime, the board continues to hear from Macon Early College families who want to remain a part of high school sports in the county. 

Emergency federal funding provided quick relief to school systems burdened by costs incurred during the COVID-19 Pandemic. For Macon County Schools, some of that funding provided the opportunity for additional art teachers. Now, with that federal funding coming to an end, those additional art positions could be in jeopardy. 

After months of back and forth, the Macon County School Board has approved a lease agreement for the Higdon property, purchased by the county earlier this year for use by the school system. 

If Macon County succeeds in constructing a new high school, which could be contingent on receiving a Needs-Based Public School Capital Fund grant , the school system will consolidate Union Academy and Franklin High School into the same campus.