WENDELL — When Wendell Elementary School principal Winston Pierce goes out to dinner, it’s not uncommon to see her scribbling frantically on a paper napkin.

“It’s a puzzle,” she said of staffing her magnet school during the state’s budget crunch.

Pierce uses a formula to calculate the number of teachers she will have and to determine what capacity she will use them in.

Wake County Schools has announced schools will have 5 percent fewer teachers next year, holding back on hiring unless that state budget comes through with more money for schools.

“Basically, today, I know things could change,” said Wendell Middle School Principal Mary Castleberry.

But what that means for schools right now, is that many teachers whose contracts have to be renewed every year don’t have jobs.

That’s little comfort for the “terminating contract” teachers in eastern Wake County.

Pierce said she is scheduled now to lose seven of them.

At her school, not all of that is due to the state’s budget crisis.

Wendell Elementary will lose some of its students because of reassignment. Pierce said some students were reassigned to other schools to ease overcrowding at the gifted and talented magnet school.

The contracts of teachers who come on board after school starts, retirees who return or lateral entry teachers and those from other states who moved to North Carolina to teach while pursuing qualifications for their licenses must be renewed annually in order for them to teach.

“We have hired some mighty fine folks and we would like to keep everyone that we can,” said Castleberry. “But we have to follow the regulations that the state sets forth.”

Pierce said she’s working to help keep good teachers in Wake County by networking with principals. Teachers can reapply for their jobs, but the school has to have enough allotted months based on the number of students it has to recommend hiring them, Pierce said.

“Your brain is rolling constantly about how to best serve your kids,” said Pierce.