Wake County schools Superintendent Tony Tata stands behind his decision to ask for a vote on the new student assignment plan next week - even as some newly elected school board members and parents say the vote should be delayed.
New board members Susan Evans and Jim Martin, along with several speakers at a public hearing Thursday, said too many questions exist about the plan for it to be adopted Tuesday. But Tata said the board needs to approve the plan then to allow staff enough time to have it ready for the 2012-13 school year.
"The current board serves out its term, and government continues to run," Tata said at a news conference Friday. "It has been a distinctly apolitical process. We need the plan in place for next year. We have some deadlines. Some of them are very hard deadlines, and they're approaching."
Under the new plan, families would choose the schools they want their children to attend from a list. Most of the choices would be the schools closest to a family's home, reflecting the decision made by the Republican school board majority last year to eliminate busing for socioeconomic diversity.
The new plan is supposed to promote diversity by giving all families, particularly ones from low-income and low-performing areas, the ability to apply to higher-performing schools.
But the future of the plan was thrown into uncertainty after Tuesday's election resulted in the victory of four Democratic school board candidates: Evans, Martin, Christine Kushner and incumbent Keith Sutton. A likely runoff Nov. 8 between Democratic incumbent Kevin Hill and Republican challenger Heather Losurdo will determine which side has a majority on the board.
The Democratic school board candidates have raised questions about the assignment plan, including whether it will do enough to prevent the creation of low-performing schools.
Evans, who defeated Republican school board Chairman Ron Margiotta, has said the vote should be delayed until the new board takes office Dec. 6. On that day, Martin will replace Anne McLaurin, who decided not to seek re-election, and Kushner will take over for Carolyn Morrison, who also didn't run.
"It would be insulting to Anne McLaurin, Carolyn Morrison and Ron Margiotta to say you don't get to finish your term, you don't get to finish what you were elected to do, which is to finish their term in early December," Tata said.
Tata also pointed to the tight schedule for 2012-13 implementation. He said officials need to work on the software, train staff and do community outreach. The goal is to begin the magnet school application period in December - two months earlier than in the past - and to have families begin making choices in the nonmagnet application period in January.
Under the plan, families who like their children's current schools can stay there next year and keep their bus transportation. The plan is expected primarily to affect the 12,400 students projected to enroll in kindergarten next year.
Tata said he wouldn't speculate on what the new board members would do and whether their changes could delay implementation next year. He said he's focused now on getting the plan approved next week.
"We're poised for Tuesday," Tata said. "We've done a lot of hard work. It's time to bring this for a vote."
Tata got some backing from leaders of the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce and the Wake Education Partnership, who also say the vote shouldn't be delayed.
"Delaying a decision at this point would only prolong the corrosive debate and further distract from pressing classroom issues and needed discussions about how to handle future enrollment growth," according to an opinion piece written by Jim Brown, chairman of Wake Education Partnership's board of directors, and Jim Beck, chairman of the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce.
