How does the idea sound of having a mass election for all Wake County school board seats in 2014?

As noted in today's article, state Rep. Chris Malone said legislators are considering various options for changing the way Wake school board members are elected in response to the request from the board of commissioners.

Ideas on the table include making some or all the seats at-large and changing the elections to even-numbered years. One of the more intriguing ideas would involve extending by a year the board members elected in 2009 and shortening by a year those elected in 2011.

Former Wake County school board chairman Ron Margiotta raised nearly $65,000 in his unsuccessful re-election bid last fall.

In his year-end report filed Monday, Margiotta reported raising $64,902.72 and spending $61,006.11 during the hard-fought District 8 battle. The Republican incumbent outspent his Democratic opponent, Susan Evans, who raised $43,386.53 and spent $39.077.16.

But the gap narrows to nearly even and could possibly in the end be in Evans' favor when you throw in all the outside money that was spent to topple Margiotta from what was thought to be a safe seat in Southwest Wake.

Ron Margiotta has become only the third person to have raised more than $50,000 in a Wake County school board race.

A new campaign finance report filed this week shows that the incumbent board chairman had raised $52,748.31 as of Sept. 26. He has $31,915.55 on hand in the District 8 race.

Margiotta leads Susan Evans, who had raised $37,524.69 as of Sept. 26 with $21,770.23 on hand. But you also have to keep in mind the thousands of dollars spent by outside groups urging people to support Evans or vote against Margiotta.

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 member Carolyn Morrison says she's not endorsing school board chairman Ron Margiotta in his re-election bid even though she appeared at his campaign kickoff event.

Morrison said she attended Margiotta's July 18 event as a sign of respect to the board's longest serving member. She said he respected how he persevered as a member of the board's minority for several years.

But Morrison said she's not planning on endorsing Margiotta, his District 8 opponent Susan Evans or any other candidate in this fall's races. She said she might change her mind if there are run-off contests.

Amid all of the hullabaloo on the state budget Tuesday, a pair of bills of interest to Wake County were passed by the state Senate.

On Tuesday, the Senate passed by 32-15 the high school accreditation bill. It mirrored the earlier House vote that went along largely partisan lines in which Republicans supported the bill and Democrats voted on.

Also on Tuesday, the Senate approved by a voice vote the bill allowing the chair of the Wake school board to vote on all issues. It's in contrast to the largely partisan House vote which saw Republicans in support and Democrats in opposition.

CORRECTION

The local legislation granting the Wake school board chair the ability to vote on any issue doesn't require Gov. Perdue's approval. It automatically goes into law.

A bill, H498, was introduced Monday in the state House that would allow the Wake County school board chair to vote on all issues and not just to break ties.

The bill was sponsored by Rep Nelson Dollar and co-sponsored by House Majority Leader Paul Stam, Rep. Marilyn Avila and Rep. Tom Murry. None of the Democratic members of the Wake delegation are sponsors of this local bill.

The bill was requested by the school board as part of this year's legislative agenda. School board chairman Ron Margiotta had pitched the bill when he met with the Wake delegation last week.

If passed, it would change the law that's been in place since the 1976 merger of the Raleigh and Wake school systems.

Cary voters seem to like the Wake County school board's move toward neighborhood schools and don't have a favorable view of the Rev. William Barber, president of the state NAACP.

In a flash poll released last week by the conservative Civitas Institute, 350 registered voters in state House District 36 were polled about the race. Based on Civitas' rating system, the Cary based District 36 is considered to be Republican leading but it's also a swing district.

Most of the questions on the poll were about GOP state Rep. Nelson Dollar's  campaign against Democratic challenger Robin Anderson. But two school-related questions were included in the poll.

Wake County school board candidates Deborah Prickett and Horace Tart are the first ones to file their year-end campaign finance reports.

Tart's final report shows he spent $12,306.98 during his unsuccessful bid for a second term on the board. Toward the end of the campaign, he got $150 from school board member Anne McLaurin and $150 from former Raleigh Mayor Smedes York.

The report shows Tart paid $700 to the Raleigh-Wake Citizens Association's political action committee to be his poll workers on Election Day.

So who's responsible for these misspelled campaign signs that have popped up overnight in multiple locations in District 2?

Both the campaigns of Cathy Truitt and Horace Tart are denying any involvement with the signs.

"We would have nothing to do with this," said Nelson Dollar, Tart's campaign manager. "It's not coming from Horace Tart's campaign. That's silly."

Brad Crone, who is managing Truitt's campaign, said he heard the signs were put up by a private citizen who dislikes John Tedesco.