RALEIGH - The Wake County school board voted Tuesday to set $380.3 million as the starting amount it wants to use for developing a new, multiyear funding formula with county commissioners.

Both elected boards are exploring how to implement a proposal from the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce and the Wake Education Partnership to develop a formula for determining how much money is needed annually for schools.

School administrators stressed this doesn't change the fact that the school board is asking for $355.5 million from the commissioners as part of the budget adopted last month. Superintendent Del Burns said $380.3 million should be considered the baseline for the new formula.

What the school board did was start with the $355.5 million and add $24.8 million in additional spending for initiatives designed to close the academic achievement gap.

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