People aren't exactly rushing to fill the vacancy on the school board.

School officials say they hadn't received any applications as of Monday afternoon. You've got until noon on July 20th to get your application into the hands of the school district.

There are people who've expressed interest in filling the District 4 seat in Southeast Raleigh that was vacated when Rosa Gill left to join the General Assembly.

The vacancy sign is now officially out in District 4 and Venita Peyton is hoping to get the nod.

Now that Rosa Gill is officially a state legislator, the school board has begun taking applicants for her position through noon on July 20. Click here for info on the selection process.

Peyton announced on her blog that she's applying for the seat.

CORRECTION: Changed the deadline to apply to July 20.

The game of guessing who wants to replace Rosa Gill on the school board is well underway.

Board members say they've been contacted by people interested in filling the soon-to-be vacant slot. As noted in a previous post, the board agreed Tuesday on the procedures that will be used to appoint a successor.

Two people whom Gill had indicated are interested in the job — PTA volunteer Jonica Rowland and retired principal Alice Garrett — were at Tuesday's board meeting. Garrett was there in her role as education chairwoman of the Raleigh-Wake Citizens Association to present Gill a silver bowl.

The clock will soon start for people to formally submit their names for consideration for Rosa Gill's seat on the school board.

As noted in today's article, the board agreed Tuesday to seek applications from the public through noon on July 20. The application window will begin once Gill's resignation becomes official, which is expected to take place by Thursday.

The board went through a lengthy review of the process. The upshot of it is that you shouldn't expect a guaranteed interview from the board.

The school board has just unanimously selected Kevin Hill to be the new chairman.

Horace Tart has been unanimously selected as the new vice chairman.

The board also agreed to take applications from the public for Gill's pending vacancy on the board. People will have until noon on July 20 to submit applications to the district. The goal is to appoint a replacement in August.

Things seem to be pointing in the direction of Beverley Clark becoming the new chairwoman of the school board today.

Amid the behind-the-scenes wrangling, it would seem that Clark has the votes to win this afternoon's election over Kevin Hill. Then again, Lori Millberg thought she had the votes until the last minute last year.

One thing to see today is whether the vote is unanimous. That would mean that one of the hopefuls realizes he/she can't win and wants to put on a show of solid support for the new chair.

Clark has never been chairwoman during her 10 years on the board. Hill has been on the board for two years.

Usually the new chair in an election year would be someone running for re-election. But three of the four incumbents aren't running for re-election.

Some folks have already indicated interest in filling Rosa Gill's seat on the school board.

Gill said at least four people have talked with her about the position. She said they'd all bring unique qualities to the board.

Gill said the potential candidates include Lillian Lee, the retired principal of Rolesville Elementary School; Alice Garrett, a retired administrator and former principal of Carroll Middle School; Jonica Rowland, an active PTA volunteer; and the Rev. Johnny Darden, who mentors at-risk students.

The school board will soon have to determine a procedure for naming a replacement for Rosa Gill, who was tapped by the leadership of the Wake County Democratic Party to fill a vacancy in the state House.

Board policy is rather brief on the process. The policy just says that the board needs to pick a replacement who is from that person's voting district to fill out the rest of the term.

But the board could go with the process that was used in 2001 when the last time a vacancy opened up.

A decision that the school board didn't make this week could have ramifications on who will be its new leader.

The board didn't back Lori Millberg's request on Tuesday to move up the annual election of board chair and vice chair from June 16 to June 2. Board policy sets the election for the second meeting of June but Millberg said she was going to be out of town then.

With the meeting still scheduled for June 16, it could make it easier for Kevin Hill to become the new chairman. There's also speculation that Beverley Clark will seek the post.

The county budget will be the big topic of discussion at today's joint meeting of the school board and county commissioners.

County Manager David Cooke will explain his budget, which would cut spending, cut jobs, freeze pay raises and keep the property tax rate flat. He'll also mention why he's recommending giving the school board $3.3 million less than the $316.8 million it has requested.

The meeting will start at 9 a.m. in the ground floor conference room of the Wake County Office Building, 337 S. Salisbury Street in Raleigh. It's open to the public.