It looks like Wake County school board candidate Venita Peyton is going to have to rely on an online campaign in the absence of much campaign cash.

In a post today on her Outside The Box blog, Peyton writes that "the 2011 School Board race is shaping up to be a choice between two types of candidates: those for children and those for power." She rips into NCAE, the old school board and prior superintendents for "low student achievement and high dropouts for the past decade."

On her campaign website, Peyton explains her decision to not attend Thursday's District 4 forum sponsored by WakeUP Wake County, the League of Women Voters of Wake County and the Southeast Raleigh Assembly:

The campaigns for the Wake County school board races should heat up this week.

As noted in today's article, you've got two fairly significant events over the next five days. You'll have the release of updated campaign finance reports and the first of the five candidate forums sponsored by WakeUP Wake County and the League of Women Voters of Wake County.

All school board candidates who intend to raise more than $1,000 and any groups expecting to spend money on the school board races must file a 35-day pre-election report. This report, which must be postmarked no later than Tuesday, will show how much has been raised through Aug. 30.

UPDATE

Inserted the words pre-election to make the wording more clear.

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.

WakeUP Wake County is urging the Wake Board of Commissioners to increase funding for the Wake County school system.

In a press release today, WakeUP's Executive Director Karen Rindge argued that school funding can't continue to stay unchanged for a third year in a row while enrollment continues to grow. They also make a plug for alternative forms of additional school funding, such as a real estate transfer tax.

“We need funding to sustain our growing population, and next year’s student body will grow by more than 3,000 bringing us to a total of 147,000 students,” stated Rindge.

Could Yevonne Brannon return to the Wake County board of commissioners as the replacement for Stan Norwalk?

Bob Geary is reporting online today in the liberal Independent weekly that Norwalk is stepping down this year as a county commissioner. Geary reports that Norwalk's home is on the market and that he plans to relocate to Kansas to be near one of his daughters as soon as it sells.

Geary is reporting that Norwalk is telling friends and fellow Democrats "that he wants his replacement to be, as he is, a strong voice for the Wake schools." It means being a supporter of the old diversity policy, among other things.

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.

Supporters of the old diversity policy are holding a pair of forums next week for candidates for the Wake County Board of Commissioners.

Schools will be among the topics at Monday’s forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Wake County and WakeUP Wake County. Other topics will include water supply, public transit, revenue and growth.

The forum will run from 7 to 9 p.m. at Temple Beth Or, 5315 Creedmoor Rd. in North Raleigh. The N.C. Center for Voter Education will air it live online at www.voterradio.com and also for replay as a podcast.