The Wake County school board would make a statement if it chose a non-educator to become superintendent.

As noted in today's article, policy revisions recommended by the school board's policy committee would take advantage of changes adopted by the General Assembly in 2001 to allow non-educators to become superintendents. But few school districts in the state have taken advantage of the change.

Guilford County Superintendent Maurice Green was about the only non-educator to come to mind for people. Green was Charlotte-Mecklenburg's in-house lawyer and later deputy superintendent before becoming superintendent.

The school board accepted Supt. Del Burns' request today to not accept an automatic three-percent raise.

Under Burns' contract, he's guranteed a raise of three percent each year. His request means that he won't get an $8,190 raise on his $273,000 base salary for the coming fiscal year.

The board can still choose to give Burns a raise later this year when it reviews his performance. Last year, the board gave him a 1-percent raise on top of his automatic one.

Some other superintendents, such as Paul Gorman in Charlotte-Mecklenburg and Maurice Green in Guilford County, have also asked their boards to not give them automatic raises this year because of the economic conditions.

Here's a story that you don't see every day.

Guilford County Schools Superintendent Maurice "Mo" Green is turning down a three-percent raise of $7,500 that he's entitled to get this year. According to the Greensboro News & Record, Green said the troubled economy would make his raise a hardship for the school system.

"I don't believe I should be eligible for that given this point," Green said in the article.

The school board unanimously approved his request to not give him the raise.