Capacity Contortions Yield Contradictions
By BRIAN GOTT - STAFF WRITER
Is Board of Education Vice Chairperson Kit Cramer a conniving con artist who twists and distorts facts to support a mammoth $427 million schools bonds package? Or is Cramer a shining knight out to expose myths and distortions that opponents of the schools bonds are passing off as facts to blur the truths about the pressing needs that face Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools?
Voters will get a chance to make that decision for themselves between now and November’s bond referendum, but the battle to win the hearts and minds of those voters has already been launched, and Cramer is on the firing line’s frontline.
Bond opponents think Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, and taxpayers, would be better served if money was used to build new schools where they are most needed to alleviate severe overcrowding, typically in the suburbs. They contend the proposed schools bonds contain millions of dollars to pay for renovations to schools that are woefully under-capacity and under-utilized. Bond proponents, like Cramer, say those renovations are critical and that the schools, typically in the inner city or mid-ring, aren’t as empty as critics contend.
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For example, if a Marie G. Davis classroom was scheduled to have 20 students and the classroom only had 16, it was still listed at 80-percent capacity, even if it actually could have held 30 students. Bond opponents contend that Cramer and others use similar mathematical rationalizations to debunk the “myth†that several schools, which bond opponents contend are under-capacity and under-utilized, are, in reality, near or above capacity.
For example, Cramer and other so-called myth busters contend that Druid Hills Elementary has an 89-percent occupancy. On the other hand, bond opponents claim the school has a capacity of 800 students, but only an enrollment of 428, according to CMS’ 20-day, student enrollment numbers from the 2004-2005 school year. Those numbers would give the same school only a 54-percent occupancy.
Likewise, Cramer and others contend that Pinewood Elementary has a 115-percent occupancy, while Bishop, Puckett and others point to enrollment numbers that show the school has only 417 students versus a 800-student capacity – or only a 49-percent occupancy.
The dueling numbers go on and on: Where Cramer and others think a school like Thomasboro Elementary has a 92-percent occupancy; Puckett, Bishop and company point to enrollment numbers that show the school with only a 53-percent enrollment, or 420 students in a school built for 800.
Cramer contends Walter G. Byers has a 91-percent occupancy; her critics point to enrollment numbers that show only a 54-percent occupancy – or 430 students in a school built for 800.
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Similarly, Marie G. Davis has 466 students with an average of 240.5 squarefeet per student, while Quail Hollow Middle’s 1,237 students have an average of less than half that at only 100.5 square feet each.
E.E. Waddell High has 1,190 students with a square foot average of 197.3 per student, while North Mecklenburg High, which has 2,799 students, has an average of only 86.2 square feet per student.
Thomasboro Elementary, which Cramer and company contend has a 92-percent occupancy, dedicates 245.6 square feet per pupil, compared to Huntersville Elementary in the crowded suburbs, where bond opponents say money should be used to build new schools to relieve overcrowding. Huntersville has only 90.3 square feet per pupil.
“As for Ms. Cramer’s myth-busting, we hope she will explain how Lincoln Heights Elementary, for example, is at 100-percent of capacity with 471 students in a spanking new building built for 800,†the Republicans’ statement read. “We suspect she would have to reveal that her utilization statistics for replaced urban core schools are built on changed ‘capacity.’â€
They say that type of fuzzy math is just another example of why the public mistrusts CMS.
“Is it any wonder that there is a crisis of confidence in the stewardship of our tax dollars and public schools?†their schools bond statement read.
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It’s not only a handful of Republicans on the school board and the board of commissioners, though, who are opposing the schools bonds, and Cramer’s arguments do not seem to be swaying some Democrat challengers running for the board of education
“We have Walter G. Byers in our district and I know it’s under-capacity,†said Sheila Ann Johnson, who is running against District 2 board member Vilma Leake in November.
According to Cramer’s occupancy claim, Byers is 91-percent occupied, even though it could hold up to 800 students and currently houses 430. According to the bond opposition, the elementary school has 210 square-feet per student – far higher than many other schools.
Those numbers leave candidates like Johnson puzzled.
“I am concerned about the numbers they (the pro-bonds committee) are using. Are they true numbers?†Johnson asked. “I am not supporting this bond package. CMS is very top heavy. We do have a lot of empty seats, and CMS has not demonstrated fiscal responsibility.â€
Alexander said the bonds are excessive.
“We have all these under-utilized schools, good Lord,†Alexander said. “I don’t think the citizens of Mecklenburg County need to be fleeced any more under the guise of ‘This is for the children.’â€