Several prominent educators, all of whom are Democrats, have endorsed the five school board candidates backed by the Wake County Democratic Party.

In a press release Wednesday, the Wake Democratic Party promoted the endorsements given by the eight educators to Kevin Hill in District 3, Keith Sutton in District 4, Jim Martin in District 5, Christine Kushner in District 6 and Susan Evans in District 8.

The endorsements come from some familiar names, including former Wake Superintendent Bob Bridges, former Associate State Superintendent Dudley Flood, retired Wake principal Diane Payne, former Deputy State Superintendent J.B. Buxton and former N.C. Public School Forum director John Dornan.

"These endorsements represent our shared view that these five candidates have articulated a direction and possess a vision that are in the best interests of the students and residents of Wake County," says the joint statement from the educators. "These five candidates have pledged to focus on student learning - not just student assignment - and to support our teachers and principals to help all students achieve at high levels. We believe that among all the candidates running, it is these five that deserve the opportunity to serve and to put Wake County schools on the right track."

Wake County school board member Keith Sutton has raised nearly $24,000 in his bid to retain the District 4 seat.

A new campaign report filed this week shows Sutton had raised $23,872 as of Sept. 26 with $15,386.04 on hand. Venita Peyton's new report isn't up yet but she was at under $1,000 raised at the end of August.

The largest donors for Sutton in the new report are the $2,000 from Capitol Broadcasting CEO Jim Goodmon and $500 from Wake Citizens for Good Government.

The Wake County Republican Party is trumpeting in this new radio campaign ad the school system's high average SAT score and improving graduation rate to say the school board majority has been a "spectacular success."

It's part of a theme being used by members of the Wake County school board majority and their supporters heading into the election next week. The Wake County Democratic Party is objecting, such as in this blog post last week from former Deputy State Schools Superintendent J.B. Buxton accusing the Republicans of taking credit for efforts begun by prior boards.

Here's the text for the radio ad:

The Wake County Democratic Party launched a new website today as part of its efforts to win school board and municipal races this fall.

In a press release today, party officials say MovingWakeForward.com "is aimed at providing the latest information for voters, activists and media who are interested in learning more about the 2011 election."

The website is also described "as the home for leaders in Wake County, and North Carolina, to speak out on the issues that matter to them ahead of October 11 and November 8." In this case, the first two posts up attack the Republican majority on the Wake County school board.

The Wake Citizens for Good Government PAC is looking like it could be a big player in this fall's Wake County school board elections.

As noted in today's article, the PAC has reported raising $27,803.28 with $25,671.54 on hand. In contrast, the Wake Schools Community Alliance has reported raising $268.92 an having only $1 on hand.

There's a strong connection between Wake Citizens for Good Government, the five Democratic school board candidates and the Wake County Democratic Party. A number of people are giving money to all three groups, similar to how some of the 2009 donors gave money to the four winning school board candidates, the WSCA and the Wake County Republican Party.

The next Raleigh mayor could continue to be a critic of the Wake County school board majority.

As noted in today's article by Matt Garfield, J.B. Buxton is weighing a run for Raleigh mayor in order to be a "forceful advocate for quality schools." Buxton is an education consultant who used to be deputy state schools superintendent and was Gov. Mike Easley's senior education advisor.

Buxton, who was at least in the past a Wake magnet parent, opposed ending the diversity policy. He expressed his views in this op-ed piece that ran in October.