RALEIGH -- East of downtown, stretching north and south and all the way to Knightdale, Wake County school board District 4 is home to a wealth of sought-after magnet schools, but also to high numbers of low-income students.
The Oct. 11 school board elections pit incumbent district representative Keith Sutton, a Democrat, against Republican Venita Peyton. They have competing ideas about the Wake system's overall direction, which will closely affect the district.
The district has been the epicenter of a diversity policy which brought in thousands of magnet students from the suburbs and sent thousands of District 4 students to suburban schools.
Sutton, picked to replace Rep. Rosa Gill when she stepped down from the school board in 2009, has resisted Republican attempts to remove diversity as a factor in assignment.
Peyton, 55, a real estate broker, firmly supports the efforts of Superintendent Tony Tata to transform the schools with innovative approaches such as single-gender schools, enhanced so-called Renaissance schools at elementary schools with high concentrations of low-performing students, and an assignment plan based on choice and proximity.
Sutton, 41, makes the case that putting exceptional resources into low-achieving schools won't hold up over the long haul. He favors a policy that would prevent any school from having large numbers of students with a high likelihood of having academic difficulties.
"It would make it easier on the resources, not having to pay teachers a premium, if the student population were more equitably distributed," Sutton said. "You don't have these schools that are haves and have-nots, so you can operate them more efficiently."
The Renaissance schools and other approaches to boosting achievement in neighborhood elementary schools rely on funding sources that won't last forever, Sutton said. Specifically, money from the federal Race to the Top Fund will run out in the three years.
Peyton favors choice
Peyton believes a choice-based plan will empower parents to make the best choices for their children. In doing so, she stands not only against Sutton, but also against powerful entities such as the NAACP and its state president, the Rev. William Barber.
"It gets painful being out there all by yourself," she said. "It's hard saying, 'Mr. Barber, you are wrong!' "
Peyton has expansive ideas about the role a school board member can play, some of which seem not to fall under typical concepts of the job.
"We've got to raise our whole community," she said.
On her blog she has advocated for:
Using only Wake County residents on school construction jobs.
Setting up a charter school or other learning experience for inmates of the county jail.
Exploring the idea of having courts expunge some violations by nonviolent offenders.
Working with the schools to allow for-profit enterprises to take part in educating Wake students.
Reducing the number of foreclosed homes.
Seeking her first victory after multiple campaigns for local political office, Peyton said a role on the school board will not only allow her to help bolster education in Wake but also will give her a voice in improving conditions overall.
They're lining up support
During his two years on the board, Sutton has worked with Republicans on issues such as closing the achievement gap between minority and nonminority students and on revamping the student discipline policies to cut down on Wake's high numbers of suspensions, many of them African-American.
Sutton had raised about $20,000 in campaign contributions at the last reporting period, including $8,000 from Democratic donors John and Ann Campbell.
Peyton got support from Republican supporters including school board member Deborah Prickett and House Majority Leader Paul Stam. But with less than $1,000 in donations at last count, she's relying on broadcast and print interviews, lots of door-to-door "retail" politicking, her blog and other social and electronic media to get her message out.
"The Democrats have always controlled this seat, yet, our children continue to be thrown under the bus at ungodly periods of times for bus rides that none of them would ever allow for their own children," Peyton said in a mass email to media Monday. "It's time for the parents in this district to be respected and receive the same benefits as others."
Peyton's comment about the Democrats' control of a District 4 has a statistical explanation: They out-register Republicans and unaffiliated voters combined 2-1.
