As John Hood and Bob Luddy aptly pointed out in meetings for considering the future of Wake County, the budget for public schools continues to grow beyond growth and inflation. Some alternatives to “business as usual” tax growth include: smaller community schools, more charter schools, and tax credits and vouchers for private schools.  Smaller community schools could help reduce the burgeoning bureaucracy plaguing some school budgets, as Terry Stoops describes in the Kenly News and Oxford Public Ledger. And Charter Schools, which increasingly exceed expectations, are a key component to lowering the cost of public schools by providing an alternative. On Big Talker’s “Town Hall” meeting with Curtis Wright, Chad Adams pushed the Roger Bacon Academy as an example of a top-notch Charter School.  The school was awarded the state-wide top honor for exemplary growth for academic year 2004-05.  A further cost to educate, National Board Certification, could also be diminished, since certification doesn’t improve teacher quality, as Lindalyn Kakadelis said in an interview with Donna Martinez on State Government Radio.