Former Wake County school board member Patti Head will now have a statewide education role as one of Gov. Pat McCrory's latest appointees.

On Tuesday, McCrory appointed Head to the board of the Public School Forum of North Carolina. It's a not for profit policy think tank which is a partnership of business leaders, education leaders, and government leaders in North Carolina.

Head served as the school board member representing northwest Raleigh from 2001 to 2009, including two stints as chairwoman. During her tenure, the record $970 million school bond issue was passed and she backed controversial proposals such as converting 23 schools to a year-round calendar.

Like McCrory, Head is a Republican. But Head didn't hesitate to oppose the former Republican school board majority. She joined more than 20 other former board members in 2010 in issuing a statement supporting the policy of busing for socioeconomic diversity.

Several prominent educators, all of whom are Democrats, have endorsed the five school board candidates backed by the Wake County Democratic Party.

In a press release Wednesday, the Wake Democratic Party promoted the endorsements given by the eight educators to Kevin Hill in District 3, Keith Sutton in District 4, Jim Martin in District 5, Christine Kushner in District 6 and Susan Evans in District 8.

The endorsements come from some familiar names, including former Wake Superintendent Bob Bridges, former Associate State Superintendent Dudley Flood, retired Wake principal Diane Payne, former Deputy State Superintendent J.B. Buxton and former N.C. Public School Forum director John Dornan.

"These endorsements represent our shared view that these five candidates have articulated a direction and possess a vision that are in the best interests of the students and residents of Wake County," says the joint statement from the educators. "These five candidates have pledged to focus on student learning - not just student assignment - and to support our teachers and principals to help all students achieve at high levels. We believe that among all the candidates running, it is these five that deserve the opportunity to serve and to put Wake County schools on the right track."

The Public School Forum of North Carolina is no fan of the new high school accreditation bill that's making its way through the General Assembly.

The bill would prohibit North Carolina-run universities, colleges and community colleges from using school accreditation to make admissions decisions unless applicants come from high schools accredited by a state agency. The bill is in direct response to the AdvancED accreditation investigations in Wake and Burke counties.

In this week's issue of the Friday Report, the Forum notes the introduction of the bill this week and the release of the AdvancED report on Wake County.

"It appears more likely that legislators representing the two counties share the views of some (not all) of their local school board members who resent 'outsiders' telling them how to run their business," according to the Friday Report. "In any event, the bill is introduced and could take two widely-viewed as dysfunctional school boards currently under fire by parents and high school students concerned about accreditation off the hook when it comes to accountability."

The Wake County school board adopted its 2011 Legislative Agenda tonight after some unusual machinations.

After various motions, the board essentially adopted the draft agenda presented by staff. The big difference is that the board did decide to add a request that the General Assembly pass a law allowing the school board chair to vote on all issues.

The process for getting to the final outcome was convoluted.

The Wake County school system has made it into the N.C. Public School Forum's "Ten To Watch 2010" issues list.

As the Forum somewhat melodramatically puts it, "The Future of Wake County Schools Will Be Watched By People Around the Nation." You get the impression from the article that the group isn't thrilled with the direction that the new school board majority could take.

The Wake vs. Charlotte question is coming up again following the release of the latest SAT results.

As noted in Sunday's Charlotte Observer, there's a big achievement and graduation gap between Charlotte's high-poverty schools and its more affluent ones. The graduation rate for black CMS students has been dropping.

The article also notes that Charlotte's black and low-income students are below the state graduation rate for those categories. But those same groups in Guilford, Wake and districts surrounding Charlotte generally topped state averages.