Wake County school board chairman Kevin Hill raised nearly $70,000 in his successful reelection bid this fall.

A new report filed today shows that Hill, a Democrat, raised $68,598 and spent $54,322 in the District 3 race. Heather Losurdo, a Republican, hasn't filed her final report yet. But she had reported raising $82,357 through Oct. 24.

Before this year, only one candidate had raised more than $50,000 in a Wake school board race. But at least four candidates hit that mark last fall during the high-stakes election.

Wake County student assignment will be the topic of a panel discussion Thursday night at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Tim Simmons of the Wake Education Partnership, Terry Stoops of the John Locke Foundation and "parent activist" Neil Riemann will be the panelists. Brenda Berg, a member of the Great Schools in Wake Coalition, will be the moderator.

"Come to hear from expert panelists who will explore the complexities of school board politics and the topic of busing for diversity as they apply to this current and local issue," according to this flier for the event.

The forum starts at 6:30 p.m. in Gardner Hall, Room 105 at UNC-Chapel Hill. It's sponsored by the UNC chapter of Students for Education Reform and the Roosevelt Institute Education Center.

A total of 26 people have pre-registered to speak at Broughton High School at today's Wake County school board public hearing on the student assignment plan.

A number of the usual people who've criticized the school board majority over the past two years are on the list, including Neil Riemann, Rhonda Curtright,  Patty Williams, Greg Flynn, Heather Koons, Tom Rhodes and Amy Lee. One person also on the list is Seth Keel.

I haven't received word yet on whether Keel, who is still banned at showing up at school board meetings following his arrest, will be allowed to speak today. It will be interesting seeing whether Keel, the Rev. William Barber and all the other people who've been barred from attending board meetings will be allowed back if the Democrats regain the board majority.

Over the past two years, some speakers have railed against the board majority for leaving the ban in place. Their trespassing cases still haven't been adjudicated yet.

UPDATE

Keel is not being allowed to speak at the meeting over the objections of him and his supporters.

Rob Schofield doesn't appear to be optimistic that the majority will change  on the Wake County school board or that the new student assignment plan will do much for diversity.

In a blog post today, Schofield of the liberal N.C. Policy Watch says that the districts on the ballot Tuesday means there's a "small" chance "to dislodge the current right-wing school board majority." He says "the anti-diversity forces" have come up with an assignment plan that's so complicated that "an average person has very little chance of fully grasping the new plan — much less explaining it to others."

He praises Neil Riemann for his analysis of the plan on his blog. Riemann contends "the plan will further polarize our schools by race, wealth, and achievement.”

"In other words, it’s hard to follow and frequently secretive, but the bottom line on what the Wake school board majority has been doing is this: The group is slowly dismantling a once-excellent school system one cut at a time," Schofield writes. "If voters do take the extraordinary step of turning out the right-wingers like Board Chair Ron Margiotta, it will be because they decide they’ve had enough of such an approach."

Wake County school board member Keith Sutton has raised nearly $24,000 in his bid to retain the District 4 seat.

A new campaign report filed this week shows Sutton had raised $23,872 as of Sept. 26 with $15,386.04 on hand. Venita Peyton's new report isn't up yet but she was at under $1,000 raised at the end of August.

The largest donors for Sutton in the new report are the $2,000 from Capitol Broadcasting CEO Jim Goodmon and $500 from Wake Citizens for Good Government.

Wake County school board chairman Ron Margiotta and Susan Evans are both pulling in substantial amounts of cash in the District 8 race, including money from the Popes, Bob Luddy and the Campbells.

The new campaign report filed today by Margiotta shows he had raised $40,367.33 as of Aug. 30 with $34,111.23 on hand. The new report for Evans shows she had raised $26,406.43 as of Aug. 30 with $21,405.30 on hand.

The biggest donors for Margiotta in his new report are the $4,000 apiece from conservative businessman Art Pope, his wife Katherine Pope and conservative businessman Bob Luddy.

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

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.

Christine Kushner has already eclipsed the $25,000 fundraising mark for her Wake County school board campaign.

According to a new report filed today, Kushner has raised $27,271.24 in her bid to win the open District 6 seat. It gives Kushner a formidable campaign war chest edge in a race where no other person has announced yet.

The biggest donors in the new round of reporting are Ann Campbell and John Campbell, who both gave her $4,000. The couple have now given a total of $24,000 to Kushner and school board members Kevin Hill and Keith Sutton.

Wake County school board member Carolyn Morrison announced today that she won't run for the District 6 seat this fall.

In her press release, Morrison listed four reasons for not running for office. She cited how much further the new Central Office in Cary will be from her Raleigh home, her desire not to be in a partisan campaign, the desire to spend more time with her family and wanting to devote her time to governing instead of campaigning.

"Removing myself from candidacy and campaigning will allow me more freedom and flexibility to devote my time and energy to the more important issues affecting our students, families, and staff:  a new reassignment plan; budgetary issues; updating the composition of the Board Advisory Council for District 6 due to the recent approval of the redistricting plan; and assisting our new superintendent whenever/wherever needed," Morrison wrote.