Delays with the state budget are causing school districts all over North Carolina to have difficulty planning for the new school year.

Wake County had already announced one round of hiring freezes affecting high schools; now, that hiring freeze is being extended to middle schools as well.

Teacher aides are in limbo, too, meaning there could be a big impact at the elementary school level.

"It is a very difficult time, and I've had some very difficult conversations over the past two days," Principal James Overman at East Garner Year Round Elementary said.

Overman said 10 employees at his school won't be back.

The school district is avoiding layoffs by not renewing some contracts. That could include some of the 1,500 teachers with contracts expiring this year, along with other employees who had signed month-to-month contracts.

"On any given day, the state funding situation changes," Wake County School's Chief Communications Officer Michael Evans said. "So we're trying to put ourselves in a position where we can react responsibly."

The impact will mean class sizes are likely to increase at high schools and middle schools, and the number of course offerings will drop, Overman says.

He says elementary schools are looking at a 25 percent drop in teacher aides.

"You don't realize how much they impact school until that person is not there," Overman said. "[That's] the person that's here in the morning to help with carpool duty, [or] the person that helps with lunch duty."

For planning purposes, it's just the school district's best guess right now, but everything goes back to the general assembly's decision.

"We're just very hopeful that they will pass a budget soon so that we can move forward," Overman said.

The school district is also banning any out-of-state travel and asking that any county funding be used only for "essential" goods and services.

_______
Keep up with the stories Chris Cowperthwaite is working on every day: http://twitter.com/CCowperthwaite.