The Wake County school board is going to fight it out in the General Assembly against the county commissioners over proposed legislative changes.

As noted in today's article, members of the school board's Democratic majority objected to the legislative changes backed by the GOP majority on the county commissioners. The school board will fight letting commissioners take over ownership of schools, give money to help charter schools build facilities and their support for adding at-large school board seats.

Democratic board members said they were defending the school system by hiring a lobbyist to oppose the commissioners' 2013 state legislative agenda.

No one in the Wake County school system is thrilled with the options but by the end of the day there should be a plan in place to deal with short-term overcrowding at Panther Creek High School.

Of the four options on the table, staff will recommend today that the school board approve a plan to install two additional modular units at Panther Creek and three at Green Hope High School. The projected cost is $6,944,600, which includes an assumed offsite budget of $1.5 million.

This option is being recommended over other more expensive options that would call for a standalone ninth-grade center. But while the modulars are cheaper, it means the loss of some athletic fields and mean fewer students would be able to attend the popular Panther Creek.

UPDATE

The school board unanimously approved the staff recommendation to put the modulars at Panther Creek and Green Hope high schools.

What seemed to influence several board members is that Panther Creek Principal Rodney Nelson and Green Hope Principal James Hedrick backed the option.

Click here for the link for today's handout.

More to come later, but Wake County school administrators laid out today these four options for dealing with crowding at Panther Creek High School in Cary, three of which would still result in a ninth-grade center.

Two of the options are new but one to lease the former Kmart at SW Maynard and Kildaire Farm roads seemed to pretty much get the least support from the board. This option would cost $16.5 million, not the $9.9 million in the handout, and would be ready in August.

The other new option would be to scrap a standalone ninth-grade center and instead place more classroom modular units at Panther Creek and Green hope high schools, splitting the future PCHS students onto both campuses.

In addition to student assignment, the Wake County school board will get an update today on the status of a ninth-grade center for Panther Creek High and vote on a plan to give bonuses to bus drivers who show up for work.

Wake says it's having a problem getting bus drivers for all the 40+ buses that had been sidelined at the start of the school year but brought back following the bus complaints. Staff will present this proposal to pay drivers a $250 bonus for their good attendance between Sept. 20 and Nov. 27.

During the work session, the board will hear the latest on the search for a ninth-grade center for Panther Creek High.

Don Haydon has been scheduled to present both items before he resigned Monday as chief of facilities and operations.

UPDATE

Staff explained today that by the end of November they expect to have hired enough permanent drivers to cover all the additional buses. But until then, they said the bonuses could encourage more of the current drivers to come in so they don't have to do as often things like asking mechanics to work overtime to drive.

If successful, the bonus plan could be brought back.

The board approved the bonus plan.

The fate of Panther Creek High School's new ninth-grade center is still in limbo.

A July vote blocking the Wake County school system from spending money to set up a modular ninth-grade campus next to Alston Ridge Elementary School still stands. The school board's Democratic majority hasn't called for a revote on that decision that was made when Republicans had control for a day.

During last week's school board work session, board member Deborah Prickett asked staff for an update. Prickett has been a vocal critic of using the M16 site next to Alston Ridge Elementary.

The magnet school program will be a major discussion topic during today's Wake County school board meeting.

During the work session, staff will recommend which schools to include in the new federal magnet grant application. This means staff will identify today which schools are recommended for new magnet programs and which existing magnets will see major revisions to their themes.

Whether staff also recommends today which schools to demagnetize remains to be seen.

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST

Future plans for a ninth-grade center to control overcrowding at Panther Creek High School are back on hold again.

The Wake County school board voted last week to direct staff not to spend any additional money on design work to place modular units for Panther Creek's ninth-grade center on the M-16 campus. The vote was made possible because of the absence of two Democratic board members, giving Republicans a temporary majority.

Whether the Democratic majority will let that stand at next week's meeting remains to be seen. At least some GOP board members want to return to the original plan of leasing an office building on Pleasant Grove Church Road in Morrisvillle.

Wake County Schools Superintendent Tony Tata gave hopeful messages today about the state budget and the magnet school review during his news conference.

Tata said Wake has been "working very hard" with the General Assembly on the budget. Tata said he's hopeful of what he believes will be a good budget discussion over the next several weeks with legislators to hopefully lessen the impact of lost federal stimulus funds.

Tata said he's been talking to state legislators since January to articulate the school district's budget needs.

The Wake County school system isn't giving up on efforts to house Panther Creek High School's new ninth-grade center at the site of the future Alston Ridge Middle School.

In a Tuesday blog post, Cary Town Councilman Don Frantz writes that Wake has appealed the Town Council's decision to reject the district's use of the site. The appeal was filed with the Cary Zoning Board of Adjustment.

Frantz writes that the Council didn't want to amend Cary's Land Development Ordinance because it would pave the way for "any public or private school, trade school or other educational uses would be allowed to construct 'temporary' facilities in the absence of a principle structure."

"Make no mistake — this was not an easy decision," Frantz writes. "We all are well aware of the overcrowding issues at Panther Creek High School and we know we need additional school seats. Sacrificing our development standards however is not the answer."

The Wake County school system is back to square one when it comes to finding a ninth-grade center to relieve overcrowding at Panther Creek High School.

The Cary Town Council voted Thursday against amending a town ordinance to allow the school system to place modular classrooms at the site of the future Alston Ridge Middle School to house the ninth-grade center.

Town staff said the change would open the door for any other school to put trailers on vacant lots. Council members were also worried about how temporary they'd actually be on the site.

It's been a long winding path where the school board initially voted to lease an office building in Morrisville that would have been ready for this year. But after parental complaints, the Democratic majority nixed the deal and voted along party lines to go with the Alston Ridge site, which wouldn't have been ready until 2013.

UPDATE

Click here for the Saturday article on the vote by Andrew Kenney.