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CARY — Magnet schools and bond money, those are the hot topics for Tuesday's Wake School Board meeting.

The first two and a half hours of the work session were devoted to magnet schools. Wake County is trying to win a federal magnet school grant for up to $12 million over three years. The school system wants to use magnet schools to reduce concentrated areas of low-income students. The goal is to maximize use of school facilities and to provide expanded educational opportunities.

In order to meet these goals and the grant requirements, administrators are recommending new or revised magnet programs at:

• Green Elementary School
• Lynn Road Elementary School
• Poe Elementary School
• Carroll Middle School
• Moore Square Middle School

Some board members expressed concerns these suggested magnet schools do not address the school system's biggest diversity concerns. However administrators say some of the other schools would not qualify for the federal magnet grant.

“Maybe we don't need to go to the feds and say 'We're only going to do it if we get your grant'. I'd like to seriously give this consideration and say what are we willing to step up and do,” said Wake School Board member Jim Martin.

In regards to funding, the school board is also scheduled to talk about possible school bond projects. School board members agree the county needs a bond to build & renovate schools.

However they disagree on how much that bond should be.

There have been discussions ranging from $250 million to more than $1 billion. They are not expected to nail down a dollar amount for another month.