The Wake County school board will look at how to improve school security and school transportation today and also take another crack at buying the former YWCA building in Raleigh.

During the board work session, school security staff will present an update on the review that was launched following last month's Connecticut school shooting. One byproduct is today's vote on hiring an unarmed security guard for every elementary school.

Also during the work session, the board will hear the results of the transportation review that was launched because of the bus problems at the start of the school year. Transportation staff will make recommendations on changes.

At the end of the regular meeting, the board will take another vote on buying the YWCA building. County commissioners rejected a revised deal earlier this month but said the school board could try again.

Nearly two-dozen Wake County students are facing the impact of the enrollment caps that were placed on some schools for the rest of the school year.

Laura Evans, senior director of student assignment, said that as of Wednesday 22 students have been capped out of their base school for the rest of the school year. The information was shared during Thursday's joint meeting of the school board and county commissioners.

“It’s not something like we do, but we also don’t like excessively crowded schools," Evans said.

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.

More time to come later, but the Wake County Commissioners and Wake County school board wrapped up today the first of six planned joint meetings on the next school bond.

Today's meeting ended early. But the agendas for future meetings, which will include discussion of topics such as the calendars for new schools and the dollar amount for the bond, will ensure long discussions.

Today's focus was on reviewing the 2006 bond issue/construction program and enrollment projections. New enrollment projections call for slower growth now with Wake picking up 43,000 more kids by 2022.

Two meetings involving the future of the Wake County school system will be held today.

At 8 a.m., the school board and county commissioners will hold the first of a series of joint meetings to discuss plans for a fall school bond issue. The meeting will be held at the offices of the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce, the group that would organize efforts to urge voters to back the bond issue.

The last time both boards met in March, Commissioner Tony Gurley and school board member Jim Martin had a heated exchange over the school district's fund balance.

Later on at 7 p.m., WakeUP Wake County will hold its 2013 Annual Meeting. Organizers say that "WakeUP’s 2012 accomplishments will be reviewed and policy challenges for 2013 will be discussed, including the Wake Transit Plan, Raleigh’s UDO, Wake’s school assignment plan and more."

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."

More to come later, but the Wake County school system apparently has found a way to keep more of its fund balance, sidestepping the annual fight of how much to give back to county commissioners.

Currently, school board policy says that the district can keep up to 6 percent of the county's prior year annual appropriation in the rainy day fund. Any excess is supposed to be returned to the county, but in recent years the school board has had a two-thirds majority to waive policy to keep the excess amount.

Staff proposed at today's school board policy committee meeting that the percentage be changed to 3 percent of the overall annual operating budget. While the percentage is lower, basing it off the higher figure means a lot more money can be kept.

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 purchase of the former YWCA building near downtown Raleigh for a future Wake County school is now dead.

The Wake County Board of Commissioners had agreed Nov. 19 to purchase the property, but title problems were later discovered with one of the three tracts in the deal. The school system asked commissioners to approve today this amended deall allowing it to split up the purchase into two parts.

But in a departure from the 4-3 vote in November, the commissioners unanimously voted today for Commissioner Tony Gurley's motion to reject the new request and to declare the prior approval dead.

Wake County school board chairman Keith Sutton is calling Friday's meeting with Joe Bryan, chairman of the board of commissioners, to discuss setting a fall 2013 school bond issue "productive."

Sutton and Bryan met Friday to discuss the topics that will be on the agenda when the full boards have joint meetings next year on the bond. Sutton said topics will include things such as the amount of the bond issue, what calendar or calendars to use and the construction costs for schools.

Sutton said they've also tentatively agreed on dates for the joint meetings. But he said they want to discuss the dates with their respective boards before announcing them publicly.