The Wake County School System will slash $11.2 million from its budget due to the weak economy.

The school board agreed to return about $5.7 million to Wake County at its request and $5.5 million back to the state, which is required.

Superintendent Del Burns and board member Pattie Head said the budget reductions were not easy.

"We have now stripped our budget of almost all the flexibility that we have," Burns said.

"It doesn't give you a lot of wiggle room to do anything in the classrooms if things come up," Head said.

Schools will not feel the brunt of the cuts while central services, or in other words administration, will according to board members. Expense budgets will be reduced by 3 percent, out of state travel will be frozen and the length of time jobs are frozen will be increased from 60 to 90 days. The savings total $1.7 million.

"We'll have slower response times; in some cases we'll delay or postpone some projects. We will have some things we just don't do until things improve," Burns said.

The list of budget reductions and savings are a mixture of state and local budget items that include:

• More than $3 million in net savings due to student growth being lower than anticipated
• A total decrease of $1 million, or $7.25 per student, in classroom materials/instructional supplies for schools
• A carryover of $750,000 from the School Technology Fund
• $998,000 left over from the At-Risk Student Fund
• $2 million left over from the Capital Outlay Fund
• A reduction of $950,000 in purchases like mobile units, vehicles replacement and bus purchases

"Going forward depending on the area, state or local reductions if that's the case, there could be a need to move into personnel areas and we'll work very hard to avoid that," Burns said.