Interim Wake County Schools Superintendent Stephen Gainey is among 10 superintendents who are raising concerns about equation changes being considered by the Republican-led General Assembly.

In a letter to the editor in today's Charlotte Observer, the superintendents of the state's 10 largest school districts object to providing vouchers for children to attend private schools. Various bills in the legislature would provide tax credits or scholarships for some students to attend private schools.

"On nearly every national survey of per-pupil spending (when all funding sources are counted), North Carolina is in the bottom 20 among the 50 states," according to the letter. "In recent years, education funding has been cut. Now that the economy is improving, is this the best and wisest use of money to strengthen our children’s education?"

How will North Carolina school districts ensure they have at least 1,025 hours of instruction this fall?

As noted in today's article, Triangle school districts, like those in the rest of the state, are going with 1,025 hours instead of having 185 days of classes. It varies how each district will meet the new requirement, which is up from the old one of 180 days and 1,000 hours.

For instance, school officials in Johnston and Orange counties say they already have more than 1,025 hours of instruction at individual schools. This means they're not expecting to make any bell schedule changes for this fall.

Pencil in Dec. 4 for what could be a lively discussion about whether the Wake County school system should hold early release days on Wednesday or Fridays.

As noted in today's article, the school board's executive committee has put the early release issue on the agenda for the Dec. 4 board work session. The board's Democratic majority has the votes to push through a change but whether they want to risk any appearance of a scaled-back return to Wacky Wednesdays/Wake Wednesdays remains to be seen.

Aside from the argument from supporters that Wednesdays would be better for promoting student achievement, you're also likely to hear that they're only talking about six Wednesdays per student and not every week.

A real estate agent is using the lack of base assignments in Wake County's new student assignment plan to help market homes in Johnston County.

In this blog post today, David O'Doherty talks about the "excellent schools in the Clayton Area" and how "the location of your address is what determines the school your child will go to" in the Johnston County school system. He then notes the situation in "neighbouring" Wake County.

O'Doherty writes how "in Wake Co. you cannot be guaranteed that your child will go to the school around the corner unless you are successful in getting them assigned to that school which is done on a first come first served basis.

How much stock should people place on the new list of the nation's best public high schools that was released this week by U.S. News & World Report.

As noted in today's article, the rankings saw some schools that do well on other lists such as Raleigh Charter High, Enloe High and East Chapel Hill High not getting ranked. Less academically heralded schools such as Garner High and Southern Wake Academy were honored on this new list.

The difference from the lists done by Newsweek and The Washington Post seems to be that U.S. News requires schools to do well with their low-income and minority students.

In somewhat election-related news, AdvancED will be back in town at the end of the month to assess how well the Wake County school system is doing with the issues the accreditation organization announced in March.

In the March report, AdvancED criticized the school board's governance and put the high schools on accreditation warned status. AdvancED identified seven action steps in its report and gave Wake a year to address the issues.

Ann Majestic, the school board's attorney, said a review team from AdvancED will return on Nov. 29-30 to see what's happened in the past six months. Superintendent Tony Tata has said they're seeking to fully comply with AdvancED's requested changes.

Dry-lipped Johnston County students can tear up their permission slips — they're no longer needed to bring lip balm to class.

Johnston schools Superintendent Ed Croom on Monday sent a letter to parents informing them that they'll need to write a note only if they don't want their kids to use lip balm, hand sanitizer or sunscreen.

Croom wrote that the change is "an effort to bring clarity to this situation," after some news reports said that a doctor's note was necessary for the items.

Schools spokeswoman Terri Sessoms said officials made the change after talks with the Johnston County Health Department, which established the policy. The health department has authority over public-health issues in government agencies, including schools.

"They felt that it would be simpler for parents who did not want their children to have lip balm to notify the school rather than the other way around," Sessoms said.

The permission requirement stemmed from parent concerns that kids were sharing lip balm — and germs — and that some students were allergic to hand sanitizer.

But the policy caused confusion even before it made news. A newsletter from West View Elementary in the Cleveland community told parents lip balm simply wasn't allowed, and the school's handbook only mentioned medicated lip balm — not the over-the-counter variety most folks use.

Here's a link to The Herald's original story on the issue.

Randy Jordan and Brent Walston are acting athletic directors at Cleveland High and Corinth Holders High. Both schools are expected to open this fall.

Postponements

NCHSAA 1-A/2-A/3-A and 4-A indoor track championships in Chapel Hill, Saturday, Feb. 20

NCHSAA 1-A, 2-A, 3-A and 4-A dual-team wrestling finals. 1-A, 2-A and 4-A have been rescheduled for Sunday, Feb. 14

NCHSAA 1-A/2-A swimming finals, Monday, Feb. 15

Basketball games

Clayton vs. Smithfield-Selma, Monday

Durham Jordan vs. Durham Riverside, Monday

Harnett Central at Garner, Monday

Northern Durham vs. Durham Hillside, Monday

Waccamaw Academy at Raleigh Word of God, TBA

West Johnston at Southeast Raleigh, Monday

The N.C. High School Athletic Association will waive its games per week limit next week and allow teams to play four games in a week. The limit is usually three games. Teams will not be allowed to play on Saturday, though, unless games are postponed next week.

Wake, Johnston postpone events tonight through the weekend