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."

The Wake County school system has made it into the N.C. Public School Forum's "Ten To Watch 2010" issues list.

As the Forum somewhat melodramatically puts it, "The Future of Wake County Schools Will Be Watched By People Around the Nation." You get the impression from the article that the group isn't thrilled with the direction that the new school board majority could take.

The Wake vs. Charlotte question is coming up again following the release of the latest SAT results.

As noted in Sunday's Charlotte Observer, there's a big achievement and graduation gap between Charlotte's high-poverty schools and its more affluent ones. The graduation rate for black CMS students has been dropping.

The article also notes that Charlotte's black and low-income students are below the state graduation rate for those categories. But those same groups in Guilford, Wake and districts surrounding Charlotte generally topped state averages.