Bob Luebke argues that the Wake County school system should cut more Central Services positions before making further budget cuts in schools.

In a blog post today for the conservative Civitas Institute, Luebke is skeptical of the school administration's claims that schools now need to bear the brunt of the cut. Staff is proposing that schools bear 80 percent of the new state cut in education funding.

"Can anyone honestly say teaching staff should be cut before additional layoffs to Facilities Planning, Auxiliary Services or Growth and Planning?," Luebke writes. "If the purpose of Wake County Schools is to educate students, shouldn’t the budget reflect those priorities?"

Critics of the new Wake County school board majority and conservative businessman Art Pope struck the state GOP headquarters today.

A banner was hung up this afternoon in front of the building which read “POPE BOUGHT THIS BUILDING, POPE BOUGHT THE BOARD, 3/23: DO NOT BUY IT." The banner has since been removed.

Critics of the new school board majority have increasingly argued that Pope "bought" the school board through his campaign donations to the county GOP and his support of conservative groups such as Americans for Prosperity, Civitas Institute and the John Locke Foundation.

Did Wake County Schools Superintendent Del Burns get forced out because he refused to sign a statement to carry out school board policy?

That's the contention made in a blog post today by Bob Luebke of the conservative Civitas Institute. School board members aren't willing to publicly confirm whether that was an issue raised during the closed-session discussions.

"Burns’ refusal is surprising to many," Luebke writes. "It also begs the question: If Burns doesn’t think he was hired to carry out school board policy, what then, does he consider his duties to be?" 

Three days after approving the Civitas Institute as a vendor for training, two Wake County school board members will be at one of the conservative group's training sessions today.

But the names of the school board members who will be attending could surprise you. It probably won't surprise people that Chris Malone, one of the members of the board majority, is one of the board members who Civitas says has signed up to attend.

But the other school board member who will be present is Carolyn Morrison, a member of the minority faction on the board.

CORRECTED LINK FOR BOARD HANDOUT. UPDATED TO INDICATE THAT DEBRA GOLDMAN ALSO ATTENDED TODAY.

The potential designation of the Civitas Institute as a provider of training to Wake County school board members is proof for Chris Fitzsimon that Art Pope and Bob Luddy are the puppet masters for the new board majority.

In a blog post Monday, Fitzsimon, executive director of the liberal N.C. Policy Watch, charges that the board majority "is really speaking for a small right-wing ideological sliver of the county led by folks like Art Pope and Bob Luddy whose goal is to dismantle and privatize public education with vouchers and tax credits."

Don't be surprised if you hear certain common talking points being used Tuesday by opponents of the new Wake County school board majority.

In a message posted Friday on the Coalition of Concerned Citizens for African American Children's yahoo group, Yevonne Brannon of the Great Schools in Wake Coalition sent out a "call to action."

Brannon's suggested Tuesday topics include the cost of potentially buying out Supt. Del Burns, using the Civitas Institute as a trainer for board members and the hiring of attorney Thomas Farr.

Is Wake County's racial achievement gap shrinking or growing?

It all depends on how you look at the data, as shown by recent pronouncements from the Civitas Institute and the Coalition of Concerned Citizens for African American Children.

Both groups are taking differing opinions on the achievement gap to based their opinions on the community-based school assignment resolution that will be voted on Tuesday.

You can probably say that not all Wake County school board members will choose to use the conservative Civitas Institute for their annual training requirements.

As noted in today's article, the school board is scheduled to vote Tuesday on designating Civitas as an approved provider of annual training for board members. State law requires school board members to get at least 12 hours of training a year.

School board chairman Ron Margiotta said he added it to the agenda because some board members want to take advantage of the new training program being started by Civitas. Margiotta said he wanted to avoid the situation in which the board members would take the classes but not be able to claim the credit.

Tuesday's agenda for the Wake County school board is an interesting one.

The agenda includes a vote on a resolution "to establish a Board Directive for the establishment of Community Based Assignments." How that would fit in with the changes to Policy 6200 are uncertain.

Also on Tuesday’s agenda is a motion to designate the Civitas Institute, a conservative group funded by local businessman Art Pope, as a provider of annual training for school board members. Board members can currently get training from the UNC School of Government and the N.C. School Boards Association.

UPDATE: GO TO END OF POST FOR LINK TO RESOLUTION 

The Civitas Institute is taking aim at the Wake Education Partnership for its assessment of the resignation of Wake County Schools Superintendent Del Burns.

In a post Thursday for the conservative group, Bob Luebke questions the WEP saying that the relationship between Burns and the school board majority was "lopsided." He points out that Burns is the board's employee.

"Since the school board hires the superintendent to carry out the policies and directives of the Board, I’d guess that an arrangement is accurately described as an employer-employee relationship," Luebke writes. "As such, there is every expectation that the relationship is NOT one of co-equals but of superior-subordinates."