RALEIGH — After stinging defeats in 2009 and 2010, Democrats are mobilizing for the next election cycle. And an early indicator of their strength may arrive this fall in Wake County, where the surprising election of four conservatives in 2009 foreshadowed a wave of conservative victories in North Carolina and the rest of the country over the following year.

Five of the nine school board seats are on the ballot for Oct. 11, including four seats held by supporters of forced busing for “diversity” and board chairman Ron Margiotta, a Republican. Last year, Margiotta suggested he might retire, but the fragile nature of the Republican coalition he leads convinced him to seek another term.

The election, ostensibly nonpartisan, has attracted national interest. And while local Democratic officials say they have received no direct support from the Obama for America campaign, there’s little doubt that a Democratic sweep coupled with the defeat of Margiotta in October would ripple far beyond Wake County.

A broad coalition of parent groups in Wake County accomplished what many believed was an impossible feat in 2009. For more than a decade, parents had voiced concerns to the school board over policies, such as mandatory year-round schools, unending school reassignment, and a socio-economic diversity policy that bused children to schools far from their neighborhoods. Parents said those policies not only disrupted family and academic life but also made it harder for low-income families to participate in school activities.

The call to action was a desire for neighborhood schools and a board that would be more responsive to the needs of all parents and students in the county, not just those in a few districts.

One of the first actions the new board took was to eliminate the diversity policy. But that action quickly came under fire from the North Carolina NAACP and progressive groups that support the old diversity policy. The U.S. Department of Education and a representative of the national NAACP got involved after the North Carolina NAACP filed its complaint.

Democrats already are mobilizing, and they know the importance of North Carolina as a key swing state.

An event held June 23 in Fuquay-Varina by the Obama for America Southern Wake Grass-roots Planning Session stated one of its purposes was to discuss plans for the “very important” 2011 school board and municipal elections, saying “this is a crucial election for the future of our children in Wake and North Carolina as well as our economy.”

Mack Paul, chairman of the Wake County Democratic Party, denied that the national Obama for America campaign planned any direct involvement in the Wake County school board race. Paul told Carolina Journal that the Obama campaign has not given any money to support Democrats running for the school board “at this time.”

Tammy Bruner, also with the Wake County Democratic Party, told CJ that a volunteer organized the event. The organizer was not a paid campaign staffer. “I wish the Obama campaign was getting involved, but the Wake Democratic Party is very much targeting the school board elections,” Bruner said.

Susan Bryant, chair of the Wake County GOP, told CJ that the Democratic Party will “put enormous investments into this school board election. … There was a lot of anger from parents who said the board didn’t listen when they said no to Wacky Wednesdays, forced busing, and constantly changing schools. And when the 2010 county commissioner seats went Republican, it was a repudiation of their support for the old school board and its policies.”

Wake County and the 2009 school board elections were discussed in a June 26 Newsweek article titled “Obama’s 2012 Game Plan.” The article described Wake’s new school board as “an aggressive conservative majority” and stressed that the key for a Democratic victory locally and nationally will be getting the base to turn out in large numbers out of “fear of the other side,” pointing to the political turmoil in Wisconsin and how motivated Democrats are to regain control.

Such national interest in a local election has some of those who fought to elect the conservative majority concerned that the needs of Wake County students and parents may be swept aside to advance a larger political agenda. Many believe that Democrats intend to restore policies that have been eliminated.

N.C. State University professor Jim Martin, a supporter of the assignment and busing policy based on socioeconomic diversity, already has announced he’s running for the District 5 seat held by the retiring Anne McLaurin, wife of Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker.

“I don’t see the Wake County Democratic Party using an ideological litmus test for its candidates,” Paul said. “We want to restore the tradition of bipartisanship that has built the great school system we have. In the past, there was a lot of consensus.”

“The new school board majority has a partisan edge that has a destructive effect on Wake County,” said Paul. “An outside political element in the Republican Party drove the last election.” Paul would not identify the “outside political element.” But the North Carolina Democratic Party’s website has called for a boycott of stores owned by Variety Wholesalers, the discount retail store chain whose chairman and CEO is Art Pope, a board member of the John Locke Foundation. Pope is a prominent donor to conservative and Republican causes and a longtime supporter of school choice.

While Paul agreed that parents were angry and the issues had been building for some time, he said the old school board was trying to deal with the growth, reassignment, and resource issues.

The Wake Community School Alliance was one of a number of parent coalition groups that played a key role in electing the new school board majority. Kristen Stocking, one of the core members of the group, said alliance members have attended school board meetings and met informally since the new board was elected.

On its website, WCSA has a link to the campaign website for Jennifer Mansfield, a founding member of WCSA who is unaffiliated and running for the District 3 seat currently held by Democrat Kevin Hill.

Mansfield told CJ that parents who helped elect the conservative majority seem satisfied with the overall direction of the board, but some are frustrated over “how things have been done,” pointing to “partisanship” and saying the board needs to do better at finding common ground.

Neighborhood schools remain an issue. Mansfield said parents also want a true lottery system for magnet schools and access to achievement scores for all schools and the underlying data used in the calculations.

All sides seem to agree that Wake County Public School System Superintendent Tony Tata has been an effective leader and communicator.

Like Mansfield, Stocking said she’d like to see the new board work better together, but “we certainly wouldn’t want to go back where we were 2 ½ years ago. We’re endorsing Jennifer because we think she’s the best candidate and she understands all the issues.”

Bryant said the Wake County GOP will endorse only registered Republicans and will not endorse candidates until the Aug. 12 filing deadline has passed.

Karen McMahan is a contributor to Carolina Journal.