School board member Lori Millberg makes a direct pitch for for the candidates she's endorsing while taking a shot at others in a letter to the editor in today's newspaper.

In the letter, Millberg claims "much of the data published by some of the candidates" are "misinterpreted and in many cases are completely wrong." She argues that going to a system of neighborhood schools, such as in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, will be more expensive and less cost effective.

Millberg says that "to get the best value for your tax dollar, vote for Rita Rakestraw, Horace Tart, Karen Simon and Lois Nixon."

Millberg is echoing a position that's being repeatedly made, especially in the closing days of the campaign, that maintaining the diversity policy is cheaper financially.

Changes are looming for how students will be selected to fill Wake County's magnet schools.

Asst. Supt. Chuck Dulaney told board members on Tuesday that his staff will be working on a formal board policy on magnet schools. This would help formalize the year-to-year guidelines that his staff develops.

One of the goals of the new board policy would be to try to address how some non-magnet schools are being negatively impacted by magnet schools. In other words, you could see changes that make it harder for some students to get into the magnet program.

UPDATE: LINKS AT END OF POST NOW WORKING 

Wake wants to have its say in revising the federal No Child Left Behind program.

Some changes are expected now that the No Child Left Behind Act is up for congressional reauthorization. Various groups have proposed changes with Wake soon to be joining them.

“As one of the largest school systems in the country and one of the most successful, we think our input would be valuable," said school board member Lori Millberg at last week's board meeting.

School leaders are still more than a little sensitive about accusations they're not using stimulus dollars more aggressively to save jobs.

As noted in today's article, school board members and administrators repeatedly defended on Tuesday how Wake is using the stimulus dollars. School officials now say they're using stimulus dollars to save or create 558 positions although they weren't able to immediately break down how many were from each category.

"We’re using [stimulus dollars] exactly the way we were told to use them," said school board member Lori Millberg.

You've got a member of a George Soros-backed group and a Carolina Hurricanes hockey player among the donors in the District 1 Wake school board race.

Rita Rakestraw's donors include Gene Guerrero, a senior policy analyst for the Open Society Institute, who gave $250. The institute's founder and president is liberal billionaire George Soros, who is not exactly a favorite of conservatives.

Chris Malone has got some star power, namely a $250 contribution from Rod Brind'Amour, the team captain for the Hurricanes. Brind'Amour's ex-wife lives just outside Wake Forest with their three young children.

UPDATE

The Board of Elections says Karen Simon doesn't have to file until Sept. 28 because she hasn't spent more than $3,000 yet.

What's the best way to help students at high-poverty schools?

There are two models Wake can use at its Title I schools, which receive federal funding because of their high percentage of low-income students. You can either target the resources specifically at failing students or you can work with the whole school.

Guess which one the school district is urging schools to follow?

There used to be a time when parents of schoolage children made up a large share of the Wake school board.

But with the grueling meeting schedule that the school board has, parents of current students have become a minority. Until Keith Sutton was appointed to the board recently, Lori Millberg had been the only board member of schoolage children.

That number will increase by at least two after this fall board's elections with parents of schoolage children making up all the candidates in districts 1 and 7. (I'm counting Rita Rakestraw because her oldest child is 4 and will be in a Wake school in the near future.)

Parents of students could also win in district 2 and 9. Parents of schoolchildren are also among the applicants for the District 6 vacancy.

Wake school leaders are bashing the state for forcing them and other school districts to make unpopular budget cuts such as raising class sizes and reducing teacher assistant positions.

No new positions were eliminated today as they were already anticipated in the budget. But today's board vote makes the cuts official.

At issue is $225 million in discretionary K-12 state education cuts. Wake's share of those discretionary cuts is $21.7 million.

Click here for the online story.

Outgoing school board members Eleanor Goettee, Patti Head and Lori Millberg are backing candidates in at least some of this fall's races.

All three board members, whose terms will expire after November, are backing Horace Tart in the District 2 school board race. Tart is the lone incumbent seeking re-election this fall.

"He's brought great service to that district," Head said of Tart. "He's brought great common sense."

Does East Wake High School's future lie in it becoming a magnet school?

That's a question that will be studied at today's student achievement committee meeting. School board member Lori Millberg, whose district includes East Wake, has floated the idea of keeping the school operating as four small schools under the magnet program.

As a magnet school, East Wake High would be able to draw students from across the county. But perhaps more importantly, it might lure back families who are choosing to attend Enloe High or other high schools.