Some Wake County substitute teachers face working fewer hours for the upcoming school year in an effort to avoid having to cover them with health insurance.

As noted in today's article by John Murawski, Wake is among the many employers across the country seeking ways to dodge the higher health care expenses that will arrive in January as a result of the federal Affordable Care Act.

Wake is looking at keeping substitute teachers from reaching the 30-hour a week threshold that the new law says would make employees at large businesses eligible for employer-sponsored health care.

So how good is the Wake County school system?

That's the focus of the package in today's paper, which looks at how Wake fares against some other districts it's long compared itself with. Some maintain that Wake is one of the best districts in the nation while others say that's an over the top statement.

"Wake is one of the best school systems in the nation," said Yevonne Brannon, chairwoman of the Great Schools in Wake Coalition. "We had a few hiccups a few years ago but we’re on the way back. We’ve got a strong school board and a very capable staff."

With the superintendent visits and public forum today, let's turn our attention now to Wake County superintendent finalist James Merrill.

There's speculation that Merrill, who worked in Wake from 1984 to 2000 and was one of the highest ranking administrators when he left, is the favorite among some school board members. Merrill is currently superintendent of the 70,000-student Virginia Beach City Public Schools.

“He has experience in the system, so he’s familiar with it,” said Tim Simmons, vice president of the Wake Education Partnership. “Yet he’s been away long enough to have two superintendent of the year awards from different states. That’s unique.”

Should the Wake County school board reallocate money from the last bond issue to pay for upgrading Athens Drive High School's athletic stadium improvements or continue to leave it as part of the next construction program?

The Athens Drive community has been in an uproar since Wake County Commissioner Paul Coble questioned at last week's joint meeting including the project as part of the next capital improvement program. Parents spoke at Monday's commissioners meeting about why they felt the project needs to be funded.

Coble's response Monday was to question a request from the school system to reallocate money from the 2006 capital improvement program. He suggested the school board tap into that fund instead to pay for Athens Drive.

It doesn't look like there will be a budget fight this year between the Wake County school board and board of commissioners.

Citing the increased revenues from the improving economy, Wake County Manager David Cooke recommended today fully funding the school board's request for an $8.3 million increase. You may also see the number being reported as a $9.2 million increase because the school system is counting separately the $856,000 that the county is providing to help pay for the lease of the Crossroads II school office complex.

School board vice chairwoman Christine Kushner welcomed the good budget news at a time when the school district, which is using $28 million from its fund balance to balance the budget, is looking at potentially deep state cuts.

"Most of our cuts are coming from the state," Kushner said. "That's where our biggest issues are. But ss far as the county, they're giving us an increase."

Interim Wake County Schools Superintendent Stephen Gainey is among 10 superintendents who are raising concerns about equation changes being considered by the Republican-led General Assembly.

In a letter to the editor in today's Charlotte Observer, the superintendents of the state's 10 largest school districts object to providing vouchers for children to attend private schools. Various bills in the legislature would provide tax credits or scholarships for some students to attend private schools.

"On nearly every national survey of per-pupil spending (when all funding sources are counted), North Carolina is in the bottom 20 among the 50 states," according to the letter. "In recent years, education funding has been cut. Now that the economy is improving, is this the best and wisest use of money to strengthen our children’s education?"

Joe Bryan, chairman of the Wake County Board of Commissioners, has got some definite plans in mind should the state House also sign off on the bill letting them take over school construction from the school board.

Senate Bill 236 would give commissioners in nine counties the ability to oversee all facets of school construction, including locating, purchasing, owning, building, maintaining and renovating schools. Bryan said it's his intention to press for the county to assume the majority of the construction responsibilities from the Wake County school system.

Bryan said he'd like to see how they can merge the county and school system's construction departments. The county would need more than its current staff to oversee the $1.8 billion in school property and handle projects from future bond issues.

Some familiar names will be speaking out at a press conference this morning to complain about the education bills being promoted by Republican state lawmakers.

Former Congressman Bob Etheridge and Public Schools First NC are holding a press conference at 11 a.m. in Green Hope Park in Cary "in support of strong public schools." Other speakers include Adrienne Lumpkin and Lynn Edmonds, both leaders in the Great Schools in Wake Coalition.

The group charges that lawmakers are leading "a race to the bottom" with proposed measures such as dropping class size limits, cutting back on teacher assistants and providing voucher money for families to attend private schools.

Bills letting county commissioners take over school construction and preventing school boards from suing commissioners for more money will be heard by the state Senate Education Committee on Wednesday.

The newly released agenda shows that the committee will discuss Senate Bill 236 and Senate Bill 674. The meeting is at 10 a.m. in Room 544 of the Legislative Office Building.

Next Thursday is the crossover deadline, meaning bills without appropriations or finance implications need to be approved by either the House or Senate to be considered during the rest of the two-year legislative session. Expect a flurry of activity next week.

The school construction bill, S236, is also supposed to be heard by the Appropriations Committee should it get approved by the Education Committee.

Is the Wake County school system's new Office of Equity and Diversity needed to address equity issues in the district?

During the budget discussion Tuesday, school board member Tom Benton argued that the new office is needed to bring focus on the "many, many equity issues" in the district. But school board member Deborah Prickett questioned the need for the office, saying it was a "last-minute sort of addition."

The board spent a lot of time at the April 23 budget work session talking about creating the Office of Equity and Diversity. The board directed staff to figure out a way to add it to the budget.