The Wake Citizens for Good Government PAC is looking like it could be a big player in this fall's Wake County school board elections.

As noted in today's article, the PAC has reported raising $27,803.28 with $25,671.54 on hand. In contrast, the Wake Schools Community Alliance has reported raising $268.92 an having only $1 on hand.

There's a strong connection between Wake Citizens for Good Government, the five Democratic school board candidates and the Wake County Democratic Party. A number of people are giving money to all three groups, similar to how some of the 2009 donors gave money to the four winning school board candidates, the WSCA and the Wake County Republican Party.

This should end any speculation about who the Wake Schools Community Alliance will endorse for the District 8 seat on the Wake County school board.

In a Tuesday night press release, WSCA announced it was backing school board chairman Ron Margiotta in his re-election bid. This comes after there has been some speculation whether WSCA would, like in District 3, back someone not being endorsed by the Wake County Republican Party.

The press release touts how "some notable progress has been made toward the goals of WSCA and stakeholders across Wake County" since 2009, including:

Here's a blast from the past today with Cynthia Matson's announcement that she will run for the District 5 seat on the Wake County school board.

For you newcomers, Matson founded Assignment By Choice, the grand daddy for groups like Wake CARES and the Wake Schools Community Alliance. During the middle part of the last decade, ABC criticized Wake's assignment policy and the use of mandatory year-round schools.

"ABC was the original catalyst for the school reform movement in Wake County which united parents and increased public awareness on issues facing our school system," Matson says in her campaign announcement.

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST

It's now officially a three-way race for the District 3 seat on the Wake County school board.

School board member Kevin Hill announced today that will run for another four-year term for his Northeast Raleigh district. In his press release today, Hill stressed his education experience, his ability to "provide a balanced perspective on the Board of Education" his support for increasing school funding.

“I believe now, more than ever, that our Wake County Board of Education needs strong, progressive, and experienced leadership to help take our school system and our students to new levels of achievement,” Hill said in the press release.

Wake County school board chairman Ron Margiotta says he is not planning to resign his seat early if he's elected to another four-year term this fall.

Rumors have circulated in the community and among some blog commenters that Margiotta, if he was re-elected this year, would resign before the end of his new term to turn the seat over to a hand-picked successor.

But Margiotta, 73, said Tuesday he lives up to his commitments, including serving out the full term if he's re-elected. He's also reiterating that his home in Apex being up for sale doesn't mean he intends to leave his district.

Here's the official Wake Schools Community Alliance announcement that the group is endorsing Jennifer Mansfield for the District 3 seat on the Wake County school board.

In the Friday press release, WSCA praises Mansfield, a founding member of the group, for her "knowledge of and dedication to Wake County Schools." WSCA also says Mansfield shares their objectives of academic success as the first priority for all Wake County students, stable neighborhood schools in a community model and voluntary calendar options for all families.

The press release notes how the four candidates backed by the WSCA were elected in 2009 and that "good progress has been made toward providing Wake County families with less onerous school calendar choices." But WSCA also says it's "concerned by the current injection of politics of our schools and the polarization of our board members."

The race for District 3 on the Wake County school board has gotten potentially trickier for those who want to elect a neighborhood schools supporter.

Jennifer Mansfield, a leader of the Wake Schools Community Alliance, announced today that she will seek the District 3 seat now held by board member Kevin Hill. Heather Losurdo, past president of the Northern Wake Republican Club, has already announced her candidacy.

Both women could split the support of those who want to oust Hill, who hasn't formally announced his candidacy but has formed a campaign committee.

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST FOR REACTION FROM HILL AND LOSURDO

The Wake Schools Community Alliance hasn't switched from focusing on the Wake County school system to industrial saws.

Recently, WSCA's website has been taken over by a company that makes industrial saws. Joe Ciulla, a leader of WSCA, explained that they recently changed domain hosting services and that something may have happened to the website in the process.

Ciulla said they're keeping their current URL and it will be back up soon.

Money is already flowing into Wake County school board campaigns several months before the elections or even the start of the campaign filing period.

The biggest early donors are Ann Campbell and John Campbell. School board members Kevin Hill and Keith Sutton have both received $8,000 from the Campbells.

Ann Campbell, the president of Campbell Alliance Pharmaceutical Consulting, might sound familiar. She's a magnet school parent from North Raleigh and Great Schools in Wake Coalition member who wrote this March 17 op-ed piece urging support for maintaining socioeconomic diversity in schools.

Things definitely got heated at Wednesday night's forum looking into allegations of racial discrimination by the Wake County school system.

As noted in today's article by Thomas Goldsmith, speakers used terms like "white supremacy" and going "back to the back of the bus" to describe the move toward neighborhood schools in Wake.

“They are being introduced to blatant white supremacy in the Wake County school system,” said parent Darryl Fulton about what his four children are facing with the end of the diversity policy.