Last week, the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction released performance and growth data for the 2022-23 school year, and none of the four school districts in the Smoky Mountain News coverage area received a low-performing state designation. 

Jackson County Schools recently approved an agreement to undergo a master planning process that will move the school system one step closer to securing a middle school. 

More students in Macon, Jackson and Haywood counties will receive free breakfast and lunch in the coming school year thanks to the Community Eligibility Provision and work by local school nutrition departments.

So this is what it’s come to.

Macon County has experienced incredible growth over the past several years, both in population and property values. Despite this increase in the tax base, county administration is recommending a revenue neutral tax rate that would leave Macon residents with the lowest property tax rate in the state, but with a public school system in need of more funding.

As Haywood County Schools hammered out its 2023-24 budget, administrators faced declining student population and the imminent end of COVID-era relief funds, both of which will diminish the amount of money available for the public school system.

The Jackson County Schools Health Advisory Council has been conducting research into vape use among students and its findings have prompted the school board to sign a resolution in support of stricter tobacco laws in North Carolina.

Education and public schools have never been completely immune from the shifting winds of politics, but events of the last few years have created a new level of interest among voters that — in most cases — is unprecedented.

Jackson County Public Schools has more than doubled its preschool capacity prior to the start of the new school year thanks to donations from the Dogwood Health Trust and the Blue Ridge School Education Foundation.

The property tax rate in Macon County will be increasing by half a cent after commissioners approved a 2019-20 budget that puts additional funding toward public education.