New Wake County school board member Jim Martin raised more than $37,000 during his successful election bid, despite what it says in his filings.

Martin's year-end campaign report filed Monday shows him with a deficit of $13,443.70. But it looks like the report has a number of errors, including not including the amounts raised and spent in prior reports.

When factoring in the last report filed before the election, it looks like Martin raised $37.076 and spent $30,732.19 in winning the District 5 seat.

New Wake County school board member Susan Evans raised more than $40,000 in her successful bid to unseat incumbent Ron Margiotta,

In her final campaign report filed today, Evans reported raising $43,386.53 and spending $39.077.16. Margiotta hasn't filed his final report yet, but he had reported raising $52,748.31 as of Sept. 26.

But the funding gap between Evans, a Democrat, and Margiotta, a Republican, is a lot narrower considering all the outside money that was poured into the District 8 race.

Supporters of the old diversity policy are ramping up the message of "wait 'til next year" in the aftermath of last week's GOP election victory on the Wake County Board of Commissioners.

As noted in Thursday's American Independent article by Ned Barnett, diversity policy supporters say last week's election results shouldn't be seen as a referendum supporting community schools. Instead, they're pointing to the 2011 Wake County school board elections as the true test of public sentiment.

“I don’t think the voters went to the polls and voted the way they did because of what was going on with the school board,” said Karen Rindge, executive director of WakeUP Wake County, the parent group of the Great Schools in Wake Coalition. “But I think we’re going to see a change next year. That’s when we’re really going to see if the public agrees with this board of education.”

UPDATE

In today's article in the American Independent, newly elected Wake County Commissioner Phil Matthews is calling last week's election results a mandate for neighborhood schools.

Bob Geary is speculating on what could happen if Democrats win at least one seat today to retain a majority on the Wake County Board of Commissioners.

In an online column today for the liberal Independent weekly, Geary writes that he's optimistic that Democrats are closing the gaps on private polls showing the four GOP candidates in the lead. Geary is speculating that Steve Rao has the best chance of winning of the four Democrats.

(I've heard from both sides in the last week that the Republicans are still ahead in the private polls. Public Policy Polling, which was hired by the Democrats, has said it doesn't plan to release the results.)

Is Wake County Commissioner candidate Jack Nichols paying the price for being too honest about the prospect of a property tax increase to pay for the next school construction bond issue?

In a press release Wednesday, Joey Stansbury, head of the conservative Wake Community PAC, is painting Nichols, a Democratic challenger to Republican Commissioner Paul Coble, as someone who is out to raise people's property taxes.

Wake County Commissioner candidate Jack Nichols is making a direct effort to link incumbent Paul Coble to the student assignment controversy on the school board.

In this new campaign mailer, Nichols calls Coble, the GOP candidate, "Commissioner NO!" One example he cites is on education.

Nichols, the Democrat, says Coble "supports School Board's rash approach to student assignment and opposes impact fees on new growth to pay for school construction so property taxes can be kept in existing classrooms."

All of the final pre-election campaign finance reports are in now and they show that the four Republican candidates for Wake County commissioner have raised more than their Democratic opponents.

Republicans got $48,000 from Art Pope and his family and $31,000 from political action committees for realtors and homebuilders. They also got thousands of dollars from individuals involved in both fields.

Democrats got $13,000 from Jim Goodmon and his wife. Democrats didn't get anywhere close to the Republicans in terms of PAC money. But they did a lot  of individual smaller donations from people who've opposed the school board's elimination of the diversity policy.

Former Superintendent Del Burns will speak out publicly Wednesday on why he's backing Jack Nichols for a seat on the Wake County board of commissioners.

In a press advisory today, Nichols' campaign announced that Burns and other  members of "Educators for Nichols" will hold a press conference at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Murphey School, 224 Polk Street in Raleigh.

The symbolism of holding the event at Murphey, the first integrated school in the Raleigh school system, is hard to ignore considering Nichols' criticism of the school board for eliminating the diversity policy.

Businessmen Art Pope and Jim Goodmon are out in the financial forefront when it comes to backing candidates for Wake County Board of Commissioners.

As noted in today's article, the latest round of campaign reports show that  Pope and his family have given at least $32,000 to Republican candidates for commissioner. Campaign reports also show that Goodmon and his wife have given at least $13,000 to Democratic candidates for commissioner.

“It’s a contributor referendum on the school board,” said Democratic candidate Jack Nichols.

Both Wake County Commissioner Paul Coble and challenger Jack Nichols are talking about education in their campaign material.

In a television ad, Coble, a Republican, introduces himself and says "we all want our tax dollars spent wisely to strengthen the economy and create new jobs." He adds that "I've stopped over $40 million of wasteful spending and reinvested it in our schools to make them stronger."

In this campaign mailer, Nichols, a Democrat, asks "what's going on with education in Wake County?" He says he'll "restore sanity and civility." He promotes a "third way."

UPDATED WITH COLOR VERSION OF NICHOLS' MAILER

Here's the text of Coble's other TV ad:

"I'm Paul Coble. My daughters got a great education in the Wake County school system. In tough times I've worked hard to make sure our schools were a top priority and pass a budget that will help keep our schools strong. I'm Paul Coble."