There's starting to be some backlash now against Stephen Colbert for his satirical mocking of the Wake County school board for ending the diversity policy.

School board member Chris Malone said Colbert ignored the poor academic scores and graduation rates for low-income and minority students under the old diversity policy. Colbert had called the old model "an out of control success story."

Malone, while calling Tuesday’s "Colbert Report " segment "hysterical,” said he doubted it would have much long-term impact on public opinion.

The Wake County school diversity fight will be the focus of today's State of Things show on WUNC.

Supporters of the old diversity policy will make up the majority of guests on today's show. Host Frank Stasio will talk with the Rev. Nancy Petty, senior pastor of Pullen Memorial Baptist Church; Gerald Grant, author of ""Hope and Despair in the American City: Why There Are No Bad Schools in Raleigh;" and Marie Garlock, a former Wake student who was among those arrested at the July 20 school board meeting.

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST, INCLUDING SOME HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE SHOW

Is the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system now better academically than the Wake County school system?

As noted in today's article, Charlotte-Mecklenburg's black, Hispanic and low-income students are outperforming their peers in Wake on state tests. Plus, Charlotte's white kids are doing as well as their Wake peers.

Overall, Wake has higher scores. But that's attributable to Charlotte having more black, Hispanic and low-income kids, whose scores are still lower than their white counterparts.

Using the latest test data, the conservative John Locke Foundation is challenging the argument that the diversity policy is giving an extra boost to Wake County's academic performance.

In a press release today, Terry Stoops, education policy analyst for the Locke Foundation, says the data shows that Wake's academic gains this year lagged behind those of the state's other urban districts. Diversity policy supporters have been trumpeting test gains to argue that the school board majority shouldn't have discarded the policy.

Stoops uses the previously released preliminary No Child Left Behind data. But Stoops said his analysis is also based on an a leaked copy of the state ABCs of Public Education test results.

State legislators will be focusing on the issue of diversity in public schools in light of the controversy taking place in Wake County.

As noted in today's article, the General Assembly approved the creation of a legislative study commission on diversity in public schools. The commission could recommend school districts adopt diversity policies and maybe even suggest changing the way the state funds schools to encourage those kind of busing efforts.

The reason for the state attention, backers acknowledge, is all the talk about the Wake school board scrapping the socioeconomic diversity policy.

With all that's going on in Wake County, it's no surprise that the latest test results have become caught up in the school diversity controversy.

As noted in today's article, critics of the board majority say this year's results show the socioeconomic diversity policy shouldn't have been scrapped. But critics of the diversity policy think it's a stretch to attribute the gains to the policy.

"While the new board majority speaks about the achievement gap, the problem was being addressed many years ago," said Calla Wright, president of the Coalition of Concerned Citizens for African American Children.

The John Locke Foundation is firing back at Wake County Schools Superintendent Del Burns for his public criticism of the new school board majority's policies.

In the conservative think tank's Right Angles blog this morning, Donna Martinez questions whether those who are defending Burns' behavior would have done so if he acted the same way with the old board.

"What if he had resigned because he opposed the economic diversity policy and then did a round of interviews — while still employed — telling reporters why his bosses are wrong?" Martinez writes.

The John Locke Foundation is pitching a new checklist for voters to use when deciding which school board candidates to vote for this year.

The 28-question checklist touches on a variety of areas. Some of the questions may have a more conservative bent, which isn't surprising considering who put the list together.

Here are some of the questions:

Today marks the last day of the Beverley Clark era on the school board.

Clark said the one thing she'll consider to be her biggest legacy will be her advocacy for equity for older schools. As noted in today's article, Clark was a strong proponent of making sure that older schools got renovations to bring them closer to par with new schools.

"There are still schools that are quite old that need to be addressed," Clark said. "But we're closing the gap."

The John Locke Foundation is not exactly a great fan of the Wake school system, but they're showing the district some love on a new web site, NCTransparency.com.

Wake was graded today "the most transparent school system in the state" by the Locke Foundation, receiving a B. No other district got above a C.

"We've got to give Wake its due when it deserves it," said Terry Stoops, education policy analyst for the Locke Foundation, a conservative think tank based in Raleigh.