Keith Sutton expected to be elected Wake County school board chairman on Tuesday

The use of the phrase "cake" and "icing" predates Hargens. I'm pretty positive it goes back to Caroline Massengill and the whole magnet vs base issue. Everybody gets the basic cake and the magnets get the icing in order to be attractive.

"#2 I found only 5 out of all the elementary magnet schools at or under 30% F&R, based upon the 11-12 demographic data therefore there is no "cap"  (and since many here like to pick on Hunter - theirs in 11-12 was 45.8%).  #3 there are a significantly high number of traditional schools under your arbitrary "cap" number - are those "capped" as well? Some in the 10% range."

We have Magnet and Magnet Title I. The elite ITB magnets (non Title I) are capped. Board members will acknowledge privately they are capped (to 'prevent urban blight'). The traditional schools are not capped, we can't bus that high up into the district (PUES for example). Chuck said so multiple times. We can only bus so far.

Second, this is a system where you can go where you want to go if you are connected (you and I know that). And yes, Brenda left, but there are at least 2-3 others in that same neighborhood. They are about keeping their piece of the pie, not taking care of the county. Are Yvonne's grandchildren in magnets? Hmmmmm.

Yes, I left a school that was never going to get any attention from the district. It was our 5th most proximate ES (out of 6) and now we are at our 2nd most proximate.

We will never increase taxes in this county, the last time that happened (when Yvonne was on the CC) they all got voted out of office. You can't give some schools only cake and some schools cake and icing. If schools have internally run after school programs (that make a ton of $) than their TDA should be cut and the money sent to a school that can't do an internal program (BES). The TDA difference between PU and BE is almost double, with PU having extremely low poverty. BE had to cut all its field trips, 5th grade trip, foreign language, etc... Of course parents won't chose to stay there.

You are going to have to embrace reality at some point here. Forced busing does not work. As Bev Purdue said "I love diversity but I hate forced busing." We could have had a balanced system if we had left choice in place. And we can't ask parents to go to struggling schools, they don't show up.

I have to agree with you.   In this county, at least, there is no willingness to come together and find solutions.   As you say, too many want only their way and no other, regardless of political affiliation.  If nothing else, the last many years and BoE's have clearly demonstrated that excluding various groups of parents and students from the table doesn't work. Yet somehow, the idea of working together continues to be shouted down by louder voices on either side.  There does indeed need to be a more sweeping assessment where people drop their preconceptions and insistence on what needs to change so we can begin to make some positive changes, regardless of whose idea they are.   And there does indeed need to be more funding per pupil with transparency on how that is being achieved (i.e. clear articulation on finances) and the benefit to the students.  After seeing the discussion here for the last few years, I no longer have faith that either of the 2 current fighting factions will let it happen, even if anyone tried.

And that's why I called you out, line by line. You have the capacity to facilitate change. 

It saddens me to see you "hate", as you put it.  I encourage you to talk to Joe Bryan, our next Chair of the WCC, re school funding.  It should be interesting having him at the helm, with the KDale 100 behind him, during the next school budget conversation. 

I find it interesting you use a 30% F&R stat as a benchmark for magnets, and accuse some board members for using that figure as theirs. Yet I think the most damaging poverty percentage bias to our system has been by some board members towards making low poverty schools  (the ones < 20% F&R), even lower poverty.  It is in those areas of low poverty schools by virtue of housing patterns that the swell of "change" came three years ago, by parents who voted in board members who would remove bused in children from their area schools, the effect decreasing their poverty and increasing the poverty level at others, and oh yes - those parents' mantra -  it freed up more seats for proximity students.  Add in just one year of the Choice Model, on top of the bused children removed from the now even lower poverty schools, and we have the highest poverty polarization this county has ever experienced, without a significant movement of the money as well to address the issues such student movement and its' potential challenges brings.

All that to agree with you - high poverty schools that may also be underperforming are a cascading problem, and especially when they are underfunded too.