The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Board of Education voted to implement new residential boundaries in the 2027-2028 school year.
It’s the first time they’ve been updated in more than three decades.
Officials spent the last couple of years redrawing school zones and gathering community input using a federal grant. They say the new maps, which rezone 11.7% of student addresses, improve transportation efficiency and reduce splits in school feeder patterns.
But some board members raised concerns about the district’s capacity to implement a big change like this while recovering from a financial crisis. Frank Pantano, one of the leads on the project, said not going through with it would be harder.
“The fact that the boundaries are so inefficient right now costs us time and money, costs us extra routes, costs us extra bus drivers," Pantano said. "So implementing, in my opinion, will help us save work.”
The board voted 6-3 to move ahead with the project.
Families will be notified of their new assignments by October. If they do not want to change schools, they'll have the option to stay where they are if they can provide their own transportation.
Going forward, the district plans to review boundaries every five years at a minimum.