Wake County school board candidate Donna Williams probably isn't going to win over Enloe High School supporters based on her talk of spreading programs around.

Williams hit the local conservative radio talk show circuit this week starting as a guest co-host Tuesday on The Morning Show on WRDU. She touched on Enloe during an interview Wednesday on The Rick and Donna Martinez Show on WPTF, where she also said it's not a case of the school system needing more money to raise achievement.

"I believe we need a more fair and equitable balance in our schools," Williams said on WPTF. "I'll give you an example. Enloe High School right now has 142 magnet programs in that one school. And then we have a lot of schools in this county that have zero. I just think we need to take a look at that and if we balanced it out a lot better, it would then affect and help all of our children."

UPDATE I will now be back on Wednesday.

Wake County school board candidate Jennifer Mansfield is praising the actions of the new school board majority while also warning that things have become too politicized.

In an interview Thursday on the Rick and Donna Martinez Show on WPTF, Mansfield highlighted he tightrope she's walking on of trying to get people who disagree with incumbent Kevin Hill to vote for her instead of Heather Losurdo.

"District 3 for the last four years has not had a voice for parents and students so that's first and foremost is to be a voice for District 3 residents," Mansfield answered when asked why she's running. "And we need somebody who's in there whose experienced and I've been doing this for over six years, been involved in school issues."

Wake County school board candidate Heather Losurdo probably didn't make many friends among teachers today with her support for reassigning effective teachers to balance schools and releasing teacher performance data to the public.

During an appearance today on the Rick & Donna Martinez Show on WPTF, Losurdo was asked by a caller if she'd support moving effective teachers around to balance them among the schools. Rick Martinez followed it up by asking "how about assigning teachers where you need them and not where they want to go?"

"I love it," Losurdo said. "Let's be honest. Teachers are effective at different things. Let's find out what they're effective at, have a conversation and, I agree, let's assign them where we need them."

Wake County Commissioner Tony Gurley talked today about his bid for lieutenant governor, this year's school budget and the upcoming fall school board elections.

In an interview today on the Rick and Donna Martinez Show on WPTF, Gurley said the Wake County Republican Party "is very excited" about this year's school board elections in which five of the nine seats are on the ballot.  Without mentioning Debra Goldman by name, Gurley talked about increasing the GOP board majority in light of how fractured things have gotten.

"I believe that people were a little concerned when Republicans elected a majority during the last election but there was a little fracturing of that alliance and so everyone is seeing that you can't count on a one-person majority always holding together," Gurley said. "People are very excited about the potential of expanding on that majority that we already have."

Mark Elgart, president of AdvancED, repeatedly defended today his organization's contention that the Wake County school board's actions have created "a climate of uncertainty, suspicion, and mistrust throughout the community."

In an interview today on the Rick and Donna Martinez Show on WPTF, Donna Martinez asked Elgart whether he was referring to the whole board in the group's accreditation report. Donna Martinez, a columnist for the conservative Carolina Journal, has been an outspoken supporter of the board majority.

"It is the board's responsibility," Elgart responded. "We don't, we would not segment it and say it's only certain members. But collectively they're governing the system right now so they're all responsible for creating that type of atmosphere. But they're also in a position to change that."

The John Locke Foundation is firing back at Wake County Schools Superintendent Del Burns for his public criticism of the new school board majority's policies.

In the conservative think tank's Right Angles blog this morning, Donna Martinez questions whether those who are defending Burns' behavior would have done so if he acted the same way with the old board.

"What if he had resigned because he opposed the economic diversity policy and then did a round of interviews — while still employed — telling reporters why his bosses are wrong?" Martinez writes.