Wake County school board member Jim Martin flexed some of his political muscle at Tuesday's school board meeting.

As noted in today's article by Thomas Goldsmith, Martin got the board to amend the plan to reallocate $130 million in unused bond money to cover the cost of design work for renovations to Athens Drive High's stadium. Staff is projecting they'll have $500,000 left over, which Martin noted would cover the design costs for the stadium.

The design work would jump start the renovation project. The actual funding for the $7.4 million in renovation work would come from the next bond issue.

Wake County schools are drawing up their wish lists for new computers and other technology-related items.

Superintendent Tony Tata said Tuesday he's releasing at least $25,000 this month to each school for a "technology refresh." The money is coming from funds set aside for technology in the $1.056 billion capital improvement program developed in 2006.

Tata said the individual schools will be using the school system's purchasing power to make bulk purchases of new technology. The idea here is  to help schools keep their technology up to date.

There's been a long-running debate about whether technology should be part of school capital improvement programs.

Regardless of who wins Tuesday's runoff election, the Wake County school board will have a lot on its hands after the new members are sworn in Dec. 6.

As noted in today's article, three big issues are student assignment, the budget and the next bond issue. One question is how those issues might be approached differently depending on whether the school board has a Republican or Democratic majority.

For instance, it's safe to say that the new student assignment plan will be modified as it goes along.

The new Wake County student assignment plan will lead to changes in how new schools are built and filled.

As shown in this handout from Tuesday's school board meeting, the plan would have elementary schools open K-3 instead of the current system of opening K-5. Middle schools would only open with sixth-grade instead of the current practice of also having seventh-grade. New high schools would still open with only ninth- and 10th-grades.

The schools would pick up their additional grades as the kids age up.

It's now in the hands of the Wake County Board of Commissioners to decide on reallocating unspent 2006 bond money to help fund the $130.3 million school construction program recently approved by the school board.

The commissioners are being asked today to approve in concept the plan that would fund projects such as a new high school in Apex, a new elementary school in Wake Forest, two single-sex leadership academies, the Hilburn K-8 conversion, off-campus ninth-grade centers for Panther Creek and Garner high schools and modulars at several other high schools.

Critics of the school board majority focused most of their complaints on the leadership academies, the Hilburn project and the Panther Creek ninth-grade center. In the case of Panther Creek, school officials say the ninth-grade center is needed to deal with crowding while critics complained a relatively new school was getting more money while older ones like Apex High were not.

Today's vote is for first reading only. The meeting starts at 2 p.m. in the  Wake County Courthouse, Room 700.

The number of non-magnet school options has been expanding under Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata's watch.

As noted in today's article, Tata is now promoting a pair of single-gender leadership academies, a science academy and the Hilburn Elementary K-8 conversion. This along, with his STEM and Global Schools programs, have blurred the lines between magnet and non-magnet schools.

A big focus on Tuesday was the proposed creation of a leadership academy for male students and one for female students. School administrators touted their academic benefits.

SEE END OF POST FOR LINK TO HANDOUTS FROM THE PRESENTATION

The Wake County school board will act today on, depending on your point of view, a major folly of the old board majority or the new board majority.

The school board is scheduled to vote today on declaring the abandoned Forest Ridge High School site as being surplus property. This would allow the school system to sell the property to recoup some of its costs.

The new board majority had directed that the site be sold after voting February 2010 to abandon Forest Ridge. But the issue got some impetus last month when staff left in its future building plans a proposal to still build an elementary school on the site.

UPDATE

The board voted 6-2 to declare the land surplus with Carolyn Morrison and Keith Sutton voting no.

Should a new high school on Green Level Church Road in Cary or on Humie Olive Road in Apex be built first?

As noted in today's article, that's an issue facing Wake County school board members deciding how to use nearly $100 milion in unspent bond money. The board could make the final call on Tuesday, which would also impact whether the district immediately starts work on a new elementary school in Wake Forest, a new elementary school in Wendell or a new middle school in northwest Raleigh.

As you guys may recall, staff had proposed in June two options for using bond savings and other cuts to fund some interim construction projects until the next bond issue goes forward.

With no firm date set for the next bond issue, Wake County school administrators want to use their savings to get a head start on some construction projects.

As noted in today's article, administrators want to use most of the $91.3 million in savings from the 2006 bond issue to add more high school seats. But the money could also be used to get work done on the long-discussed middle school near Leesville Church and Strickland roads in northwest Raleigh.

Click here for a handout of the presentation that staff gave the school board last week.

Today's Wake County school board discussion should be action packed from the work session straight through to the annual meeting and regular meeting.

The thing that will likely most generate attention on the work session agenda is Superintendent Tony Tata presenting what's expected to be a modified form of the original blue plan to the board. One key question could be whether the board balks at the lack of base assignments.

Other work session topics include: