The new Wake County career technical education high school is poised to get a jump start today from the county commissioners.

The commissioners will hold a public hearing today on issuing $51.2 million in school bonds, with $19 million going toward construction of the CTE high school. The other $32 million would go toward projects to jump start the next school construction program.

The county plans to use "two-thirds bonds," meaning it can reissue up to two-thirds of the amount of bond debt it retired the previous year. This is generally used for smaller amounts and does not require a public vote in a bond referendum.

UPDATE

Commissioners approved issuing the bonds today.

How high a priority should there be getting the new Wake County career and technical education high school online for the 2014-15 school year?

As noted in today's article, the school board passed this resolution on Tuesday asking the county commissioners to acquire, renovate and outfit a former Coca-Cola bottling plant in South Raleigh for use as the new CTE school.

If the commissioners opt to help with the funding then it could still open in August 2014. If not, the opening would come after 2014 or not at all.

The Wake County school board is now putting the fate of a proposed career and technical education high school in the hands of the county commissioner.

After meeting in closed session tonight, the school board amended the agenda to pass a resolution calling on the commissioners to acquire, renovate and outfit the former Coca-Cola Bottling site on 2200 South Wilmington St. in Raleigh to make it a CTE high school.

The resolution says the school board wants the new school ready in August 2014. It would add 700 seats for high school students and 1,000 seats for Wake Technical Community College, which would be the school district's partner for the school.

The opening of the school has stalled over how to come up with the money for the project. At one point the idea was to lease the property.

The initial list of Wake County school construction needs is out for consideration in the next school capital improvement program and bond issue.

As noted in today's article, staff will lay out at today's school board facilities committee meeting that 24 new schools are needed over the next four years. That includes 14 new elementary schools, three middle schools, five regular high schools, the CTE high school and an alternative school.

They've also listed 12 whole campus renovations that will essentially mean rebuilding those schools, 16 partial campus school renovations, various life-cycle projects and assorted support and athletic facilities.

Here's a running update on some of the votes from tonight's Wake County school board meeting.

The board voted 7-2 to pay $1.7 million over the next five years to install  GPS units on all the school buses. Only board members Susan Evans and Christine Kushner voted no.

The board unanimously approved extending the waiting lists for the school choice student assignment plan from June 29 to July 18. The board also unanimously voted to make the new career technical and education high school a full-day standalone model.

Over the objections of some board members, the board will go into closed session first to discuss whether to join the litigation against the N.C. Virtual Academy. Board member Debra Goldman was the most vocal critic, arguing they should have the discussion in open session to be transparent.

It looks like the Wake County school board's hand is being forced in terms of what model to use for the new career technical education high school.

The school board will vote Tuesday on making the new CTE high school a standalone full-day program. The alternative would be a half-day program in which Wake would have one group of students in the morning and another in the afternoon.

For the deal to go through, the county has to sign off on it. At the last meeting of the Wake County Board of Commissioners, County Manager David Cooke made it known to commissioners which option county staff prefers.

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST

The Wake County school board is facing a lengthy agenda on Tuesday, including extending school waiting lists, changing the bell schedule for Middle Creek Elementary and votes on the Wake Young Women's Leadership Academy and the career and technical education high school.

Staff is recommending extending the waiting lists for students who didn't get into their first-choice school from June 29 to July 18. Any later could result in a student withdrawing after the 10th day of classes in a year-round school and thus not being counted at the new school.

The board will also vote on moving Middle Creek Elementary from a 9:15 a.m. start time to 8:30 a.m. According to the board agenda, it's being done to treat Middle Creek Elementary, West Lake Elementary and West Lake Middle as  a single campus because of their close proximity.

The Wake County school board approved tonight the concept of creating a new career and technical education high school.

The vote was on the concept only because the opening of the school has been pushed back a year to the 2014-15 school year. Staff says the proposed location at the  Coca-Cola Bottling Facility on 2200 S. Wilmington St. won't be ready for the 2013-14 school year.

The details for the program, such as which grades would be served, how students will be selected and whether it would be a half-day or full-day program, still haven’t been finalized yet. School administrators will come back to the school board with details on funding and the programming at the school.

The Coalition of Concerned Concerned Citizens for African American Children is backing creation of a new career and technical education high school for Wake County, but is also saying they "are concerned about how this program is being designed and implemented."

In this press release sent late Monday, the CCCAAC questions whether the former Coca-Coca Bottling factory on Wilmington Street is the right location. The group asks "would the Gov. Morehead site be better, or perhaps a site closer to eastern Wake?"

Using the Gov. Morehead School could prevent it from also housing students from the single-sex leadership academies, a program that CCCAAC has opposed.

Student assignment, the new vocational/CTE high school and the school budget are among the issues that the Wake County school board will deal with today.

The school board is scheduled to vote on the budget May 1 so today's work session discussion will likely indicate what direction the spending document will take. Staff has said they'd want to know ahead of May 1 if the board wants any major changes made to the proposal.

The board will also discuss during the work session before voting in the regular meeting whether to approve partnering with Wake Technical Community College to start the new career and technical education high school for the 2013-14 school year.

But what will likely generate the most media attention today is the discussion on the student assignment plan, including adopting the transfer policy and any changes to the plan itself.