Wake County voters tonight rejected the status quo from the Wake County school board. JLF’s John Hood weighs in:
Critics of Wake County’s controversial forced-busing policies easily won three out of the four school board races in Tuesday’s balloting. In the fourth race, incumbent school-board member and busing proponent Horace Tart ran third behind critic John Tedesco (49 percent) and semi-critic Cathy Truitt (24 percent). At this writing, it’s not yet clear if there will be a runoff.
It was a clear defeat for the current board, the current administration of the school district, and much of the political establishment of Wake County. The Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce sent an increasingly desperate series of emails to its members, not-so-subtly encouraging members to vote the other way. Other groups and associations did, too. While covering both sides in its news pages, the Raleigh News & Observer printed a series of editorials and columns pleading with readers to vote the other way. The day before the vote, an array of civic and business bigwigs held a press conference warning of dire consequences unless Wake residents voted the other way.
