Wake County school board candidate Jim Martin has a more than 4-to-1 fundraising edge over Cynthia Matson in the District 5 race.

According to Martin's latest campaign report posted today, he's raised $26,688.18 as of Aug. 30 and has $23,623.61 on hand. Matson''s latest report showed she had raised $6,027.10 as of Aug. 30 with $3,112.20 on hand.

The biggest donor in Martin's new report is Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker, who has contributed $1,100. Meeker's wife, Wake school board member Anne McLaurin, has donated $600. He also got $500 from Ron McFarlane, the husband of Raleigh mayoral candidate Nancy McFarlane.

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST

Schools in Wake County and across the country will be celebrating American Education Week starting on Monday.

American Education Week is an effort from the National Education Association to promote recognition of teachers and public schools. The week is marked by daily activities such as encouraging parents to visit schools, honoring support staff and substitute teachers and encouraging community leaders to serve as educators for a day.

Wake NCAE has encouraged individual schools to hold events.

Most of the school board candidates have filed their final pre-election campaign reports.

It's too early to get a definitive read on the finance situation because reports aren't in yet from most of the opposition candidates or from the Wake Schools Community Alliance or Take Wake Schools Back.

But the filed reports, which must be postmarked by today, show the candidates most supportive of school board policies are getting their money.

UPDATE

Rakestraw and Simon are missing their PAC contribution pages in their latest reports.

Gov. Mike Easley is going to Washington D.C. on Thursday to get some love from the nation's teachers.

Easley will receive the inaugural "America's Greatest Education Governor's Award" from the National Education Association "for his achievements in transforming North Carolina's public school system." He will get the award while receiving the cheers of 10,000 delegates at the NEA's 86th annual Representative Assembly. 

It beats being in Raleigh to answer questions about the budget and his wife's overseas travel costs.