Some buyer's remorse may be setting in over the Forest Ridge High site.

As noted in today's article, County Commissioner Joe Bryan called the process involving the acquisition of Forest Ridge High an "embarrassment." Bryan and Lindy Brown had both initially voted against buying the property before flipping the votes.

At issue is the $7.5 million price tag for offsite improvements for the parcel. That's higher than the $1.6 million budgeted for the work.

It looks like County Commissioner Tony Gurley wants to play being a school board member.

At Gurley's urging, the county commissioners had scheduled a presentation on the SAS report at today's work session. The presentation was delayed when William Sanders from SAS was unable to attend.

At least some of the Democratic commissioners are unhappy that Gurley is pressing them to discuss the SAS report instead of leaving it to the school board. The report is perfect for Gurley, a Republican commissioner and frequent critic of the outgoing school board. 

Compared to the Wake Schools Community Alliance, campaign finance reports show that Take Wake Schools Back wasn't nearly as big a monetary player.

In its runoff election report, Take Wake Schools Back said it had raised $2,083.25 as of Oct. 19. In contrast, the WSCA had raised $36,919.44.

The Wake Schools Community Alliance has continued to raise more money for the runoff.

In this campaign report received today, the WSCA reported having raised $36,919.44 as of Oct. 19. The group had spent most of the money, leaving $2,650.54 available.

The biggest new donor was conservative businessman Robert Luddy, who gave $4,000. School board member Ron Margiotta gave $1,650.

SEE CORRECTION AT END OF POST

It's clear that a lot of the school board campaign money is being given along party lines.

As noted in today's article, supporters of current board policies are getting a lot of backing from Democrats. Critics of current board policies are getting a lot of money from Republicans.

"I thought that maintaining diversity is very important for the county" said Wake County Commissioner Stan Norwalk on why he gave money to Rita Rakestraw and Lois Nixon.

The Wake Schools Community Alliance apparently has a lot of money that can be spent in the final month before the school board election.

According to the WSCA's latest report, the group has raised $18,741 and still had $14,046 on hand as of Sept. 1.

Among the WSCA's latest contributors are Wake County Commissioner Tony Gurley, Apex Mayor Keith Weatherly, Holly Springs Town Councilman Vincent DeBenedetto and Morrisville Town Councilman Tom Murry.

Like a pendulum, the county commissioners swung back and forth Monday on whether to add $28.5 million to the budget.

At first, the commissioners voted along party lines with all four Democrats supporting adding the money and all three Republicans in opposition. But the vote later switched to 6-1 amid questions about how they'd fund the additional spending.

"We're now officially the most dysfunctional board in Wake County," said Commissioner Tony Gurley. "I used to think the school board was."

For now at least, the days of county commissioners dictating how the school system will spend county dollars have come to an end.

As noted in today's article by Michael Biesecker, commissioners voted 4-3 on Monday to end the "purpose and function" budgeting requirements that were enacted on the school system last year. It was a straight party vote with the new Democratic majority backing the change and all three Republicans in opposition.

Under the old rules, the school board had to ask the commissioners for permission if school administrators shifted spending by more than 15 percent of its approved budget in any of several broad categories.

It's looking like county commissioners had a pretty good reason to question enrollment projections for the school district.

As noted in today's article, it's not looking good that the school district will get the $3 million that commissioners withheld this year. Commissioners provided $316.2 million, with another $3 million in a reserve fund if enrollment met projections.

"The expectation is they'll get the $316 million, not the $319 million due to the slower growth," said Joe Bryan, chairman of he board of commissioners.

County commissioners have shot down another land deal for a new school.

As noted in today's article by Michael Biesecker, commissioners voted 4-3 on Monday to turn down a $5.1 million high school and elementary school site north of Raleigh. A majority of the commissioners were unhappy about the estimated $2 million added cost for clearing the rocky land.

"Other than the Hope Diamond, I don't know many people who are going to pay that much for a rock," said Commissioner Paul Coble in the article.