You've got a chance this morning to see District 7 school board candidates Deborah Prickett and Karen Simon go head to head.

Today's forum, sponsored by the Wake Education Partnership and the chambers of commerce or Raleigh and Morrisville, will take place at 8 a.m. It will be held at the Morrisville Chamber of Commerce, 260 Town Hall Dr.

If you can't make it to Morrisville, NBC 17 is supposed to stream the forum live. The Partnership will eventually post the forum on its web site.

The forum is still taking place even though a complaint was filed Friday over the Wake Education Partnership's recent electronic newsletter on the board races.

With the Wake school board elections two weeks away, add Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce President Harvey Schmitt to those warning about the potential dangers of abandoning the diversity policy.

In an interview this morning on WPTF, Schmitt praised the academic quality of the Wake school system as helping the economic health of the region. While Schmitt said he understands why people would want neighborhood schools, he warned that abandoning the diversity policy would lead to the creation of pockets of economic decay and inequalities in property values.

UPDATE

Click here to listen to the interview.

School board candidates Chris Malone and Debbie Vair aren't pulling any punches, against Rita Rakestraw or each other, in the battle to win the District 1 seat.

As noted in today's article, both Malone and Vair back neighborhood schools and contend that voting for Rakestraw would be a mistake. But they're also taking shots at each other as they try to win the support of board critics.

Malone calls Vair a "one-issue candidate," with that issue being her opposition of the location of the new Forest Ridge High School.

The N&O's editorial board has announced its endorsements in today's newspaper.

The editorial board is backing Rita Rakestraw in District 1, Horace Tart in District 2, Karen Simon in District 7 and Lois Nixon in District 9. The editorial notes, among other things, how the four candidates support the diversity policy.

The editorial board is not connected to the newsroom's coverage of the school board races. They don't tell us what to write and we don't tell them.

The editorial board's endorsements mirror those of Wake NCAE, BiggerPicture4Wake, the Independent and the Wake County Democratic Party. The one exception is that the Dems aren't backing a candidate in District 2.

Did the Wake Education Partnership cross the line in its latest newsletter and inappropriately influence the school board elections?

As noted in today's article, that's alleged in the complaint filed late Friday with the state Board of Elections by Joe Ciulla. He alleges that the statements in the Partnership's newsletter, In Context, violate the group's non-profit status.

"It's far beyond their place to make false statements in support of their candidates," Ciulla said

Here's your chance to listen to most of Wednesday's school board candidate forum.

WPTF has posted online the audio from the event. But it's not perfect. The live broadcast was interrupted by commercials and those 10 or so lost minutes are not in the mp3 file. 

But you can still listen to about 75 minutes of the forum.

Click here for a link to hear the forum. 

The official death notice of the Children's PAC has been sent.

As was previously blogged about, the Children's PAC is shutting down and joining forces with the Wake Schools Community Alliance. This includes endorsing the same slate of candidates as the WSCA - Chris Malone in District 1, John Tedesco in District 2, Deborah Prickett in District 7 and Debra Goldman in District 9.

Now the same slate of candidates is being backed by the Children's PAC, the WSCA, Take Wake Schools Back and the Wake County Republican Party.

If you missed Wednesday's countywide school board candidate forum, you've got another chance next week.

Former Wake County Commissioner Phil Jeffreys has organized a forum for Thursday. While Jeffreys was a harsh critic of the school board during his time in office, he's recruited a majority of the candidates to attend.

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST

The Wake Education Partnership is weighing in on the school board races.

In this week's edition of In Context, the Partnership takes on the issues of year-round schools, construction costs and the graduation rate for low-income students. Those issues have come up at the forums sponsored by the group.

Can Wake school board candidates overcome a shoestring budget to still win?

History is not on the side of Debbie Vair in District 1 and Chris Augustine and Carlene Lucas in District 2. All three have filed reports indicating they plan to raise and spend less than $3,000.

Vair and Lucas, who are both still actively campaigning, are running against opponents who are not under similar funding constraints.