A Charlotte-Mecklenburg school bus that caught fire Wednesday afternoon was the same make and model as other buses that have gone up in flames in North Carolina in the past two years, prompting state officials to send at least one cautionary memo to school systems.

Wheeler:  Average yearly cost of providing More at Four services to help an at-risk 4-year-old be ready for school in North Carolina: $5,031. Average yearly cost of housing a convict in a North Carolina prison: $27,000.

Court dates have been scheduled for the 30 protesters who were arrested at Wake County school board meetings in 2010.

The Wake County school system has begun an online survey to get reaction to a proposal that would change the school schedules for nearly all of the system's 165 schools this fall.

The Wake County school board voted Tuesday to accept a bid of $2.61 million from a Raleigh developer for a building on 10 acres off Noble Road.

Long a model of quality and affordability, the UNC system will grapple today with fears that both may be at risk. The UNC system's Board of Governors will take action today and Friday on tuition for the 2012-13 academic year.

Achievement gaps still exist, but educators say it is closing.

Wake County's new student assignment plan remained the topic of much discussion and complaints at Tuesday night's school board meeting, with some board members promising to monitor its early results and, if possible, make changes before next fall.

Wake County taxpayers have been paying more than $20,000 a month to maintain three vacant Raleigh office buildings that school officials have had limited success in trying to sell.

When the Wake School board decided it needed more space for its administrative operations, it turned to the brokerage firm of Grubb & Ellis for advice.

The number of homegrown terrorism plots hatched by Muslim-Americans has declined over the last three years, and such plots remain relatively rare despite public fears, according to a study by a UNC-Chapel Hill sociology professor.

President Barack Obama on Thursday declared that 10 states are free from the No Child Left Behind law, allowing them to scrap some of the most rigorous and unpopular mandates in American education.

The Wake County school system has announced the hiring of principals for seven schools:

Mike deGruy, a filmmaker, marine biologist and N.C.

Real Deals:  When a real estate deal doesn't turn out as planned, there are two things that you can be fairly certain will occur: Monday-morning quarterbacking and finger-pointing.

The long drive to renovate Athens Drive High School's aging stadium made a crucial gain Tuesday courtesy of the Wake County school board.

Tens of thousands of Wake County families would have to adjust morning routines - from 10 minutes to more than an hour - under an administration proposal to change the start and dismissal times for nearly all of the district's schools this fall.

The Wake County school board voted Tuesday to extend Superintendent Tony Tata's contract by six months. His contract will now run through December 2014.

Parents of 1,191 Wake County students have to reselect which middle schools they want their children to attend this fall because of a glitch in the school system's computer system.