But the nine candidates at the event also offered a range of ideas for making schools safer, friendlier and more competitive in the often-referenced 21st-century global environment.

Lois Nixon, a candidate for Cary's District 9, said Wake should snare a fairer share of state and federal dollars to address underfunding. Debra Goldman, also running in the Cary district, cancelled because of illness, but supporters showed up to be available for questions after the event.

"I will provide leadership to rebuild the school board's relationship with the community," said Nixon, who supports the current school board policy on diversity. "I share the concerns of the community about the impact of growth and insufficient funding."

Throughout the debate, held Sept. 16 at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Raleigh, candidates returned to the longstanding controversy over Wake's policy of busing to insure that students from different economic levels are balanced in each school.

"This is not acceptable; this will not stand," Chris Malone, a former Wake Forest town commissioner running in District 1, said of low graduation rates from Wake high schools by children of low-income families.

Busing students for economic diversity doesn't work, Malone said, it only hides the system's failures.

Rita Rakestraw, a former teacher and a Malone opponent in the district containing eastern Wake communities, countered that Wake should preserve its approach to busing, while minimizing family dislocation. Conversion to community schools would resegregate the system, Rakestraw said, and would create a divide between schools in well-off and low-income areas.

The forum's sponsors were the League of Women Voters of Wake County, the Junior League of Raleigh, the YWCA of the Greater Triangle, the Wake County PTA Council and El Pueblo. Questions posed by a moderator were composed by the organizers and picked out at random, with some candidates encountering tougher queries than others. Nixon was lobbed one softball -- on whether physical education contributes to students' academic performance as well.

"As an environmental educator, I think we need to get kids outdoors, not just for physical education, but to experience nature and learn about some of the things that sustain our lives," she said.

In northeast Raleigh/Morrisville's District 7, educator Deborah Prickett dodged a question on whether Wake County schools should offer age-appropriate, medically accurate sex education.

As a loyal Wake County employee, Prickett said, she would favor teaching whatever the General Assembly decided was the appropriate information.

In other areas, Prickett said she wanted to see magnet concepts spread across all schools.

Her opponent, military veteran and state crime commission grants manager Karen Simon said teachers should be aware of students' differences to educate children from widely diverse backgrounds properly. In answer to a question, Simon also suggested that arts education should be emphasized in elementary schools as well as in the higher grades.

"I also think that the arts are important as far as balancing academics," she said.

"It adds to the balance of the whole child."

The race in District 2, including Garner, Holly Springs and Fuquay-Varina, brought out four candidates. Their concepts included Carlene Lucas' idea of using an approach called "controlled choice" to preserve diversity; incumbent Horace Tart's proposal for a vocational high school for students who don't go on to college; Cathy Truitt's plan to set evidence-based personal goals for students; and John Tedesco's call for community partners to strengthen schools.

A version of this story ran in The News & Observer. For updates, visit newsobserver.com.