CARY — The Wake County school board voted tonight to extend Superintendent Tony Tata’s contract by six months.

Tata’s contract will now run through December 2014. School board chairman Kevin Hill said the extension will align Tata’s contract with his annual evaluation cycle.

Tata was hired by the former Republican school board majority in December 2010. But last fall’s election resulted in Democrats regaining the board majority, with none of the five members having voted to hire him.

Republican school board members had pushed to extend Tata’s contract.