Are you ready for a Wake County school construction bond referendum in May?

The school board's facilities committee recommended today going with a timetable that would have a May 2013 bond referendum instead of an October 2013 referendum. The reason is that school staff says the earlier referendum would let them get money for projects in July 2013 compared to July 2014 if the wait until an October 2013 referendum.

“We can’t afford to fall a year behind on capital projects,” said school board member Jim Martin.

Was the Wake County school board's decision to only extend the dissolution of first-choice wait lists to July 18 the right call?

Some school board members talked last week about extending the deadline even further for all students, or least for those in high schools. But staff cited the need to lock in a date for schools to have their enrollment figures and to be fair to newcomers who will be moving in over the summer.

The waiting lists were going to expire on June 29. But after parents lobbied for more time to get into their first-choice school, the board told staff to look at a later date.

Is the Wake County school system's decision to play "Big Brother" a wise investment or money that could have been better spent elsewhere?

The school board's vote Tuesday to enter in a contract with Everyday Solutions to install GPS monitoring devices on all district school buses was hailed by supporters as an initiative that would save money and improve safety.

But opponents on the board called it a "toy," saying the $1.3 million expenditure in the first year could have been used for other areas such as more money for teacher assistants and assistant principals whose pay was cut last year.

Is the Wake County school board looking after its interests or being a bully by joining the lawsuit against the proposed online charter school?

As noted in today's article, the issue went 5-4 along party lines with the Democrats backing the N.C. School Boards Association's request that it take part in the litigation. The Republicans voted no, questioning the propriety of the decision.

"I think it’s anti-charter school and I don’t think we belong in it," said school board member Debra Goldman, the GOP nominee for state auditor.

Former Wake County school board member Beverley Clark wasn't the only speaker firing bombs at Tuesday's school board meeting.

As noted in today's article, critics of the new choice-based student assignment plan and supporters of magnet schools made up much of the turnout for public comment. Several speakers urged the board to make major changes to the new assignment plan.

Speakers also defended the magnet school program, downplaying the data indicating they have larger achievement gaps than non-magnet schools. They also denied that magnets were schools within a school as terms such as "social justice" and "diversity" were often mentioned.

More to come later, but the Wake County school board voted 5-4 along party lines tonight to enter the lawsuit against the new N.C. Virtual Academy.

The five Democrats voted yes, contending that the new charter school would drain funds from Wake by taking some of their students. They also said it was improper how the school went to the Cabarrus school board instead of the State Board of Education for initial approval.

The four Republicans voted no, saying there was no reason for Wake to interfere in the Cabarrus school board's business. Conflict of interest questions were also raised about Tharrington Smith representing the 36 school districts joining the lawsuit, the N.C. School Boards Association and the Cabarrus school board.

UPDATE

It turns out that Tharrington Smith doesn't represent Cabarrus.

Former Wake County Commissioner Stan Norwalk has died.

Norwalk. 80, resigned last year due to poor health and to be near here his family in Kansas. Norwalk had lobbied for increased school funding during his three-year tenure on the board of commissioners.

Norwalk, who was also one of the founders of WakeUP Wake County, was a lightning rod, He often clashed with commissioners Paul Coble and Tony Gurley on a variety of issues.

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 board will meet this afternoon to talk about the magnet school review.

There's a level of tension, both on and off the board, about what the future of the magnet program will be under the new choice plan. There's also debate about what role the themed academies, from the additional STEM schools to the new single-sex leadership academies, will have going forward.

Those issues were highlighted during last week's discussion of the draft strategic plan.

UPDATE

Click here for the magnet data being shared at today's work session.

Wake County Manager David Cooke is recommending giving less than half of the $8.8 million funding increase requested by the school system.

Cooke's $941.5 million budget presented today would give the Wake County school system $318.3 million, a $3.9 million increase in funding. The school board, working on the budget developed by Superintendent Tony Tata, asked the county for $323.2 million

Cooke's budget would not raise property tax rate. Instead, he'd boost spending by using $22 million in increased revenue in property, sales and other taxes.