Everybody behave

Sparring between Wake County commissioners and school board members doesn't do much to help bolster the schools

There are two sides to every argument, goes the old saw, and most of the time that's probably true. One certainty, though, about the chronic condition known as "bad blood" between the Wake County school board and county commissioners is that it's not helping anyone. The intensity of the tension between the two groups has ebbed and flowed over the years, but it's ramped up lately for several reasons. Among them: a perception on the part of some commissioners that the school board and officials haven't been careful enough when it comes to recommending land purchases for school sites, sometimes offering to pay too much. (Commissioners' concerns were not invalid.)

And now, commissioners have been critical of the board for overestimating enrollments. Since money given to the school district is based on enrollment projections, the commissioners' outgoing Chairman Tony Gurley says the schools should consider returning $6.4 million. That's the figure that's over the amount given to cover enrollment projections for the year that were 2,000 students over actual growth, and teacher pay supplements. Gurley and other commissioners say the schools ought to at least thank them. Commissioners don't have the authority to take the money back.

The school board answers with the fact that enrollment did, after all, go up by nearly 6,000 students, a tremendous number that requires considerably more investment in a multitude of areas. And while student numbers might not match projections this year, commissioners and school board members alike know that enrollment is only going up.

It's perfectly appropriate for commissioners to be careful stewards of the public's money. But a greater ease in the working relationship between these two boards would help everybody, including those students in the classrooms of what's now the nation's 19th-largest school system (and the biggest in the state).

It's also important to remember that whatever fusses may come up, Wake County schools are very good indeed and have long been a major factor in the county's ability to attract new businesses that include high-paying, high-tech jobs. Money for schools is not simply a one-way expenditure. It is an investment.

Sometimes, the commissioners' irritations with the school board seem based on personality conflicts rather than solid reasoning. Gurley and some of his conservative mates on the county commission appear to approach some issues involving the schools with a preconceived skepticism. School board members, for their part, seem to return the feeling, and view every criticism as a threat. But to be fair to them, the schools have been used as a political issue.

Also, school officials have to deal with a multitude of constituencies. Parents, obviously. Commissioners, who hold some of the purse strings. And the state. Consider the current confrontation over class sizes in early grades. The school board has had to seek more money from the state because some 120 kindergarten through third-grade classes in the Wake system, at 37 schools, are beyond size limits set by the state. Smaller class sizes at those levels have been a priority of Governor Easley's. More teachers are needed. This is a crisis.

Common sense says that classes that are supposed to be limited to 18 students per teacher are not as effective when they have, as some such classes are in Wake County, 29 students. Schools may go up to 24 students under the law. Beyond that requires a waiver from the State Board of Education. Wake school officials say they're asking for money for teachers, but will need waivers if the money is not forthcoming. The state should not grant those waivers. Doing so would ignore a long-term problem while offering no solution. It should provide the money needed.

To address issues such as this, and others that come up in the complex world of public schooling at a time of rapid growth, commissioners and the school board will have to work together. Will school officials have to again address the issue of the distribution of students? Will commissioners have to consider property tax increases, in addition to bonds, in order to build even more schools?

County commissioners and the school board need leadership that will work cooperatively, not remain in conflict.