Wake County school board chairman Ron Margiotta and Susan Evans are both pulling in substantial amounts of cash in the District 8 race, including money from the Popes, Bob Luddy and the Campbells.

The new campaign report filed today by Margiotta shows he had raised $40,367.33 as of Aug. 30 with $34,111.23 on hand. The new report for Evans shows she had raised $26,406.43 as of Aug. 30 with $21,405.30 on hand.

The biggest donors for Margiotta in his new report are the $4,000 apiece from conservative businessman Art Pope, his wife Katherine Pope and conservative businessman Bob Luddy.

The District 6 race for the Wake County school board is looking like it could be the most expensive of all the races this fall.

The new campaign report filed today by Christine Kushner shows she has raised $41,565.83 as of Aug. 30 with $33,256.54. The new report filed today by Donna Williams shows she has raised $27,806.83 as of Aug. 30 with $22,634.43 on hand.

The biggest donor in Kushners' new report is the Democratic Women of Wake County, which gave $1,100. She also received small donations from former school board members John Gilbert, Lori Millberg, Tom Oxholm and Susan Parry.

Supporters of the old Wake County diversity policy are urging the school system to slow down the pace for adopting a new student assignment plan.

In an op-ed piece today, Great Schools in Wake Coalition members Sharon Eckard and Amy Lee argue that there are too many questions unanswered right now for the school board to vote on a plan. But much of the criticism in the piece focuses on the blue plan while both writers argue that it would be "easier" to support a modified green plan.

"Let's slow down the pace and analyze the options with rigor and appropriate details," Eckard and Lee write. "There is much more at stake in these plans than 'Where will my child go to school?' These plans will affect all Wake County residents through the real estate market, school taxes, the ability to cost-effectively attract high-performing teachers and the allocation of money among schools."

Here's more about what was said at last week's OCR meeting at Martin Street Baptist Church.

Click here for an earlier post about the meeting. Most of the speakers and the crowd were opposed to the school board majority's elimination of the diversity policy.

The meeting kicked off with the Rev. Earl Johnson, pastor of Martin Street Baptist, getting laughs and applause from the crowd when he quipped that the church was "a very neutral site by the way." That was in response to the complaints from the school system about holding the meeting at the church.

New Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata got a first-hand look Tuesday at what school board meetings will be like, from emotional public speakers to bickering by board members.

Most of the 39 speakers who signed up railed against the school board over the student reassignment plan and the elimination of the use of socioeconomic diversity. Some speakers got even more personal, particularly  directing their attacks at school board member John Tedesco.

Several speakers welcomed Tata. But Tata was also warned by speakers to restore diversity or else he and the school district would face dire consequences.

The antipathy between the Wake County school board majority and their critics was extremely evident on Tuesday.

As noted in today's article by Thomas Goldsmith, speakers lashed into the board majority for abandoning the diversity policy and going to only one public comment period per month. Members of the board majority fired back later on in the discussion before adopting the public comment change.

Here are examples of some of the comments:

The end of socioeconomic diversity in Wake County's student assignment policy doesn't mean the fighting is over in the state's largest school district.

As noted in today's article, supporters of the now defunct diversity policy are vowing to fight the board majority's plans. We've got the long process involved in developing the new community assignment zones and next year's school board elections.

“We are going to every meeting, we’re going to watch every line that’s drawn and every child that’s moved,” said Yevonne Brannon, chairwoman of the Great Schools in Wake Coalition.