The touchy issue of providing rigorous math options for Wake County's academically gifted students, particularly in middle school, is raising its head again.

As noted in today's article, a group of parents of AG fifth-grade students is complaining about how the new Common Core math curriculum isn't challenging enough. But what really steams this is how Wake is handling the issue of single-subject math acceleration for this fall.

These parents, who will meet with school administrators Thursday, aren't happy about what they're being asked to do at this last minute to get their kids accelerated into Common Core Math 7. They were recommended for Common Core Math 6 Plus.

Here are some of the quick highlights from the $1.3 billion operating budget that interim Wake County Schools Superintendent Stephen Gainey presented today.

Gainey is asking county commissioners for an $8.3 million increase. Gainey is also proposing that the school board waive policy to allow the district to use $28.7 million of the $32.7 million in the fund balance to balance the budget.

School staff say they can use the $8.3 million in additional county dollars for things such as:

UPDATE

Click here to view the budget proposal.

How will the Wake County school system be affected by the changes, those approved and those still to come, from the Republican-led state government?

One of the items on today's school board student achievement committee agenda is an overview and discussion of SB 795 " The Excellent Public Schools Act." Elements of the act that were incorporated into the budget last year were praised by Republicans and criticized by Democrats.

Among the elements that went into effect, over the veto of former Gov. Bev Perdue, are creating an A-to-F grading scale using test scores to evaluate all schools and requiring third-graders to pass the state-end-of-grade reading test to be promoted.

Two years later, the arguments are the same but those who are in control are different as the Wake County school board decides on who will be the next schools superintendent.

As noted in today's article, members of the Democratic board majority say they'd prefer to hire a superintendent with education experience. Republican board members say the search should include looking at non-educators as well, although they can't do much about it being in the minority.

“It’s really going to depend on how much experience they want in the educational field and how much experience in the corporate or military field they can tolerate,” said outgoing Republican board member Chris Malone.

The start of the school year today for traditional-calendar students in Wake County is opening with some questions and uncertainty.

As noted in today's article, you've got immediate concerns such as how will the new bus system work and how well will students, parents and schools react to the new common core curriculum.

Over the next 10 months, you'll see the development of the new student assignment plan for the 2013-14 school year take place at the same time the campaign ramps up for a new school bond issue.

Throw in the changes to the magnet school program as new schools begin recruiting for the November magnet fair and other schools wait to see if they're demagnetized.

Wake County school board member Jim Martin took a decidedly less rah-rah approach to the reporting of the school district's latest test score results.

During Tuesday's board meeting, Deputy Superintendent Cathy Moore gave this presentation that highlighted academic gains made in the 2011-12 school year. While repeatedly saying he appreciated the advancements that were made, Martin said he was concerned that the data was being presented in the "rosiest" way possible without the deeper analysis he felt was needed.

Martin said he was also trying to prepare the public for next year when Wake's test results are expected to drop with the introduction of new tests under the common core curriculum. He pointed back to how test scores dropped after the state renormed the end-of-grade exams in the middle part of the last decade.

Common core, professional development and expanded learning opportunities could be on the agenda at today's Wake County school board student achievement committee meeting.

The agenda hadn't been finalized as of Friday, but committee chairwoman Christine Kushner expected the meeting would include a discussion about the new common core curriculum in math and language arts. Kushner said she'd like to discuss how they're providing teachers with professional development on the common core and how they're explaining the new curriculum to parents.

Professional development has changed since the school board scrapped the use of Wake Wednesdays/Wacky Wednesdays in 2010. Instead of dismissing an hour early every Wednesday, schools are now supposed to find the time for professional learning communities to meet in some other way.

As for expanded learning opportunities, it's an outgrowth of an idea from school board vice chairman Keith Sutton to look at the academic benefits of extending the school day or school year. Kushner said she'd like to discuss what after-school learning opportunities are available and what more could be added.

More to come later, but there's some news out of today's Wake County school board student achievement committee meeting about changes in the grading policy and single-subject acceleration.

Following a lengthy round of questioning, staff will look at revising the grading policy to drop wording saying that attendance will be excluded from the academic grade. Staff will also develop a list of academic and non-academic related behaviors after committee members indicated concern about staff wanting to omit work habits from the academic grade.

Deputy Superintendent Cathy Moore also announced today they're easing back on the suspension of single-subject acceleration. She said students who currently receive single-subjection acceleration would be grandfathered for the 2012-13 school year.

Parents of academically gifted students have been in an uproar since staff suspended single-subjection acceleration because of the implementation of the common core. This suspension most typically affected elementary school students in math such as the Webb family, who filed a grievance after their rising fifth-grade daughter was told she couldn't take sixth-grade math.

Is the new common core math curriculum too rigorous for elementary school students to be accelerated to take middle-school math?

As noted in today's article, most of the Triangle High 5 school districts are reacting to the transition to the common core by holding off on math compacting until middle school. In the Wake County school system, this means no replacement for the eliminated 5th/6th-grade compacted math class and no longer allowing elementary school students to go to a middle school to take math.

It created a mini-stir on PAGE of Wake County's Facebook page last week about rumors of Wake suspending acceleration. Wake is clarifying that this only applies to single-subject acceleration under the new math placement policy.

The Panther Creek High cheating incident and the school budget proposal dominated much of the discussion today's news conference held by Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata.

Tata said he stands behind how Panther Creek issued short-term suspensions and in-school detentions for the five students who were caught cheating. They were also required to take an alternative exam to see if they knew the material.

Tata was asked how fair it was for Panther Creek to give an alternative exam when some schools would give zeros for cheating. Tata pointed back to the ongoing grading practices review and how principals have autonomy to make decisions within the broad framework of board policy.

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST