For various reasons, such as slowing growth and tensions with commissioners, it's looking like the Wake County school system will shy away from asking for as much as a $1 billion bond referendum this year.

As noted in today's article, school board chairman Keith Sutton said after Thursday's joint meeting they'll talk with commissioners to work out a compromise for a lower bond total. It will be based on the school district's needs and how much commissioners are willing to raise taxes.

As for the growth projection, there was a lot of speculation about why it has slowed, especially this year. Reasons cited by officials from both boards included the poor economy, problems with the choice plan and bus service and people opting out of the school district.

How much should political considerations affect whether the Wake County school board changes policy to allow it to keep more money in its rainy-day fund?

As noted in today's article, school board members discussed Tuesday whether the change would produce a backlash from county commissioners. The change would nearly double the amount that the school board could keep before deciding whether to waive policy to return the excess to the county.

"Now we’re saying it’s okay for us to bank double the money," said board member John Tedesco, during the policy committee meeting. "That’s going to cause us some problems with our colleagues on the other side of the aisle at a time we’re dealing with challenging issues with them."

Changes on the Wake County school board mean new leadership roles for board members Kevin Hill and Susan Evans.

Hill will now chair the board's facilities committee, replacing the departed Chris Malone. Hill, who can now chair committees since he's no longer board chair, will lead the committee as it takes the lead role in developing the new school bond issue.

New board chairman Keith Sutton has asked Evans to take over for him as chair of the board's finance committee. Evans will chair the lead committee on developing the school budget in what could be a tough funding year with county commissioners.

The education reform package passed last year by the state legislature drew plenty of red flags at Thursday's Wake County school board student achievement committee meeting.

As noted in today's article, school board members said that issuing an A through F grade for every school will humiliate schools and won’t have much value. School leaders also say now requiring districts to hold summer reading camps for third-grade students who fail the state reading exam is an unfunded mandate.

“We are charged to make sure we have the best education system for our students and teachers," said school board member Jim Martin. "If something is coming down the track that doesn’t help students and teachers, then we have the obligation to get off the track before the train hits us.”

The Wake County Taxpayers Association is urging AdvancED to do an on-site review of the complaint it filed against the Wake County school system.

WCTA says an onsite review is needed because the school system's Dec. 17 response letter to AdvancED was "elusive, misleading, and treats the concerns of many in this county with frivolity.”

To support the case for the site visit, the WCTA points to actions such as Keith Sutton's statements during the September closed-session firing of Superintendent Tata and the Nov. 28 yanking of the microphone from Deborah Prickett's hands by Susan Evans.

UPDATE

Click here to view the new WCTA letter to AdvancED and a press release.

The desire to conduct a full-scale national search is apparently what tipped the balance Tuesday in favor of the out-of-state firm that was chosen by the Wake County school board to conduct the superintendent search.

As noted in today's article, school board chairman Keith Sutton said he felt that McPherson & Jacobson could potentially do a better job of recruiting nationally than the N.C. School Boards Association. Sutton also liked how McPherson & Jacobson would solicit community input.

Sutton's concerns blocked his fellow Democrats from picking the School Boards Association, resulting in the deal that led to McPherson being hired after the recess.

The Wake County school system is denying that members of the school board's Democratic majority are being unduly influenced by the Great Schools in Wake Coalition.

As noted in today's article, Wake's school board attorneys are telling AdvancED that majority members are making decisions based on their independent judgment and not because of the influence of Great Schools or any other advocacy group. The Wake County Taxpayers Association had charged GSIW had "extreme influence" on the majority, particularly the new board members.

"The allegation that the Board members who voted in favor of the June 19 student assignment directive did so because of 'extreme influence' from GSIW is suppositional and wrong," says this report.

The controlled-choice plan bit the dust officially on Tuesday with the 5-4 vote by the Wake County school board to move back to an address-based plan for the 2013-14 school year.

As noted in today's article, Democratic board members argued that the choice plan was too expensive to maintain. They argued the new plan was a good hybrid of the choice plan and a base plan while incorporating long-sought concepts such as grandfathering for all students at their current school.

But Republican board members argued the choice plan wasn't given a fair chance to succeed and that changing assignment plans again promoted instability in the community.

Hunter Elementary School, a magnet school near downtown Raleigh, looks like it will be among the 13 Wake County schools that will have a full enrollment cap placed on it today for the rest of the school year.

But the discussion last week about where the capped out base children for Hunter would go gives more insight into the differences between the board members about how students should be assigned. It could serve as an another example of what direction the new 2014-15 student assignment plan will take.

Last week, staff added Hunter to the original list of 12 schools it was recommending for a full cap for the rest of the 2012-13 school year. Students who are capped out of Hunter would be given the option of Oak Grove, Timber Drive and Washington elementary schools.

The difference between a guarantee and a priority could be a big deal for Wake County families who apply for magnet schools or during the first transfer application period next year.

Based on last week's discussion, staff has placed in both the magnet and selection criteria a priority for applicants who are not in an entry grade to go to the same school as a sibling. This came after board member Susan Evans asked about adding this kind of priority.

There's also now officially a transfer priority that fleshes out wording in the draft assignment plan about dealing with requests from rising 6th- and 9th-graders for feeders from the choice plan.