A $50.5 million North Carolina lottery-funded grant built Weldon's new middle and high school

Weldon City Schools in Halifax County, North Carolina, opened its new Weldon Middle-High School this fall, a $65 million building paid for mostly with a $50.5 million needs-based grant funded by the North Carolina Education Lottery, the lottery said. The school serves grades 6 through 12 at 415 County Road and was dedicated September 11, Hoodline reported.

“It represents an investment in our children,” said Vernon Bryant, chairman of the Halifax County Board of Commissioners and a 1975 Weldon High graduate. The district kept the bricks from the 65-year-old school and laid them in the ground at the new entrance, and it renovated the Ralph J. Bunche Gymnasium rather than tear it down. Tiffany Hale, who chairs the Board of Education, said her mother went to the school, she did, and now her son will.

The money came through the state's Needs-Based Public School Capital Fund. The General Assembly created it in 2017 to help districts in economically distressed counties replace and repair schools, according to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. It is paid for with lottery revenue and is the largest yearly share of lottery money set aside for school construction. In the most recent round, in November 2025, the state awarded more than $392 million to 10 districts, with caps of $42 million for an elementary school, $52 million for a middle school, and $62 million for a high school. Weldon's first application was turned down before it applied again, Hoodline reported, citing The Daily Herald.

Halifax County has received more than $151 million from the lottery since 2006, and the lottery says it provides more than $1 billion a year for public education statewide. Its audited reports put revenue to the state at $1.08 billion in fiscal 2025, slightly less than the year before even as sales rose, because more of the growth came from online games that pay out more of each dollar. North Carolina's scratch-offs and its jump in lottery spending are covered separately.

Sources

North Carolina Education Lottery: The $50.5 million jackpot that just changed the game for Weldon students

Hoodline: Weldon Middle-High School opens in Weldon

NC Department of Public Instruction: Nearly $400 million awarded in needs-based school construction grants