State budget cuts are forcing the Johnston County school district to cut summer schools programs.

About 450 students will not get a chance to go to summer school, according to Associate Superintendent Keith Beamon.

The district is cutting: a summer reading program for primary school students, a summer program for students in kindergarten through eighth grade who may need to repeat the grade, and about a third of the seats in a program for students with limited English proficiency.

The district will continue to offer summer school for students in third through eighth grade who failed end of year tests. This program is a requirement under the Johnston County Board of Education's policy.

The district will also continue summer school for high school students.

"Our high school students use it for credit recovery for the most part," Beamon said. "And we feel like it's essential to keeping those kids in school, to give them hope that they can get back on track to graduate on time."

The district cut the summer programs to try to save remediation programs during the school year, which the state is targeting for cuts, Beamon said.

"We feel like that's really where we need to do most of our remediation... is during the year, rather than waiting in the summer and letting the student struggle all year," he said.

The summer school cuts will save the district about $200,000.

But schools may still have to cut other remediation programs.

"We're talking with the schools right now about expecting between a fourth to a half of what they've had in the past in terms of remediation money," Beamon said.