VoteNoBonds.com

Bond Brouhaha Begins

By BRIAN GOTT - STAFF WRITER

With strong opposition from some leaders of the black community, voter approval of the $427 million schools bonds appears to face an uphill battle.
….

By far, though, the schools bonds issue has proved the most controversial, even for politicians and community activists that typically have never met a schools bond they didn’t like.

Some black candidates for district school board seats – races that will be decided the same day as the bonds – aren’t voicing a tremendous amount of support for the bonds this time around.

“It’s evident we need new schools, but I’m also aware that we need to maintain some of the older schools,” said Donna Jenkins-Dawson, a black Democrat who is running against District 2 board member Vilma Leake.

“That bond is faulty,” Jenkins-Dawson said. “We go from one extreme to the other. We need some balance.”

Dwayne Collins, who is seeking the seat District 3 school board member George Dunlap currently holds, said he’s not sure yet if he’ll vote for the bonds.

“At this point, I’m kind of in between,” said Collins, who is black. “The question in my mind is how is this money going to affect the high poverty, low performing schools.”
….
James said those sentiments are indicative of a rift growing in the black community when it comes to getting behind the schools bonds.

“There’s a big family feud,” James said. “The only thing missing is (former Family Feud game show host) Richard Dawson.”

“The NAACP and the Black Political Caucus are opposed to the bonds because they don’t want to build schools in the suburbs and they don’t like the student assignment plan,” James said.

But that might just be James’ own interpretation from what he says he has been hearing at the grassroots level. Neither group is officially opposed to the bonds at this point. The Black Political Caucus held a community forum to discuss the matter Sunday night.

Rembert said she’s heard from some in the black community who are opposed to the bonds and she’s heard complaints that too much of the bond money is scheduled to be spent in the suburbs. However, she thinks when all communities are educated about the bonds and how past bonds have been spent, people will realize these bonds are necessary.

“I recognize that there is extraordinary growth in the suburbs and the schools are overcrowded,” Rembert said. “But we also need to renovate schools in the middle ring.”
….
Proponents of COPs, though, point out that they demand more accountability than wide-sweeping bonds. Board of Education member Kaye McGarry, a white Republican, said bond money could be shifted and changed for different projects than those for which voters approved the bonds, which has happened in the past, while COPs fund specific projects.

However, Democrats who control the board of county commissioners all said they would oppose using COPs to fund school construction if the bonds are defeated.

Puckett called that “blackmail.”

School Board member Larry Gauvreau, a white Republican, said some leaders in the black community are feigning opposition to the bonds in the hopes that more bond money would be spent on inner city schools, instead of suburban schools, to gain the black community’s support.

“I think it’s an act that certain politicians put people through every year,” Gauvreau said.

“It’s a negotiating tactic to scare people into building more schools in the inner city,” he said. “But how can anyone disagree with the fact that over a billion dollars has been put into the center city and middle ring schools since 1998? They are over-built.”

Bond supporters are turning to technology in their effort to get the bonds passed come November. Board of Education Vice Chairwoman Kit Cramer, who is white and registered as Unaffiliated, announced recently the voteyesforbonds.com website promoting the bonds will have a “myth-busters” section to counter what she claims are misconceptions some people have about the bonds.

Some of those myths are that schools in the inner city are at half of capacity, Cramer said.

James contested that notion and said one thing is not a myth: The public is not satisfied with CMS and the way it is spending the taxpayers’ money.

“If you really want to send a message to CMS that they are incompetent boobs, vote ‘no’ on the bonds,” James said.

Rhino Times Article

Hi, this is George Young from Matthews. I had applied for the interim school board position. I didn’t expect they would take me because I pushed the idea of deconsolidating CMS. But, I was surprised to hear Joe White say that they weren’t going to choose someone that was going to be running in the District 6 race, and then see them turn around and choose the deputy of Kindberg. And for Ms. Downing to get that, prior to the election and after Joe White’s remarks, I think once again it drops the trust level of what a member of the school board, particularly the chair, says compared to what he does. So, I doubt the bonds are going to be approved. I know I won’t be voting for them, because I can’t trust these people with money. Regardless of what they say, that’s not what they do. Once again, George Young, Matthews, North Carolina. Thank you very much.

Sound of the Beep - Rhino TimesSeptember 15, 2005

Board of Advisor members, last week you received an email regarding the
2005 Mecklenburg County school bond campaign. Through a technical
error we regret that Board of Advisor email addresses were disclosed. We
apologize for that mistake and have taken steps to correct the issue.

As a result of the error, opponents of the bonds were able to reply to
everyone on the list with their arguments for voting against the bonds.
This presented us with an opportunity to learn more about the
objections to this important community issue. We have been researching the discussed issues and wanted to provide you with further information. Attached to this email you’ll find a detailed response from Kit Cramer who serves as the Chamber’s group vice president for education and also as vice chair of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education.

In summary, those who oppose the bonds have clearly stated their intention: to defeat the school bonds and then attempt to fund the construction of only new classroom seats with Certificates of Participation. Their statement does not fully reflect all the facts that support the need for this school bond referendum. Renovations and life cycle replacements are high priorities in addition to new schools and are more efficiently and appropriately funded through bonds approved by the voters.

The strength of our community is that we all share in the costs; we
all share in the benefits. The future of our community depends on a strong
school system; our children depend on us to provide it. Your vote on
November 8 endorsing the 2005 bonds will get us there. For further
details on how past bond dollars have been spent, as well as the
details surrounding this campaign, go to www.voteyesforbonds.com.

Thank you,

Chairs of the Vote Yes for 2005 Bonds
Anthony Fox Jim Babb Amy Aussieker
Joe Polite

Parker Poe Bahakel Broadcasting Centex
Construction First Colony

______________________________________________________________
Integraphx proactively scans all email for virus content

Response to Dissenters on Bonds

A Return on Investment

Charlotte-Mecklenburg has a tradition of supporting our public schools.
Past school facilities bonds on the ballot include: 1995 ($217 million,
72% voting yes), 1997 ($415 million, 73% voting yes), 2000 ($275
million, 71% voting yes) and 2002 ($224 million, 63% voting yes). That’s a lot of money, but a lot has been done with it. Since 1996, bonds and certificates of participation (COPs) have been used to build 37 new school
buildings, to accomplish renovations and additions at 66 existing schools,
and to replace worn-out building systems like heating, air conditioning,
plumbing and roofing at many more.

While a lot of money has been spent, what dissenters don’t say is that
the school system consistently asked for higher numbers that were cut back
…numbers that were based upon student projections that ended up being
largely accurate.

At one time, school bonds were running on an every-other-year cycle.
Bonds that Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) requested be voted upon
in 1999 were delayed to 2000, and a 2004 question was delayed until 2005,
resulting in our being off by two bond cycles, requiring larger amounts
in subsequent requests that were still trimmed. That means that although
our community has generously supported bonds in the past, the size of the
referenda haven’t been adequate to deal with capital needs, nor have we
addressed them as often as we should.

The investment in school facilities should come as no surprise. Since
1994, Mecklenburg County has grown in population from 585,041 to
829,978—41.9%. That kind of growth impacts everything, including
schools.

Adequate Seats for All Students

The response from the County Commissioners and School Board members who are against the bonds — 5 of a total of 18 public officials–states
that the bond package is unfocused on the priority of providing every
student a permanent seat in a school near home. There’s a fault in that logic.
Although providing a seat for students is certainly a priority, it is
not the only one. Nearly half of our schools do not meet the current space
standards, and many were built in the decades of the 50s and 60s. Not
only are many of these schools in poor condition, but they are inadequate
to reasonably deliver today’s curriculum. Our objective must be to provide adequate seats for all of our students. A “growth only� capital plan is one sided and will never allow us to meet that objective.

Bonds are also needed to meet state and federal mandates intended to keep
students safe and in a healthy environment, for example, projects like
asbestos removal or fire alarm upgrades.

Myth Busting

The dissenters’ statement encourages citizen discontent through the
promulgation of a myth: that “serviceable schools were razed and
replaced only to be half filled.� The fact of the matter is that nearly
three-quarters (73%) of CMS’s schools are either completely full or are
already over capacity. When you add in schools that are close to being
completely full (greater than 90% of capacity), the total of full or
overcrowded schools is 87%. Of that number, 22% are projected to have
over one-and-a-half times as many students as they can hold (over 150%
capacity).

Schools that have been replaced were done so because they were not
serviceable, had become too costly to maintain, and did not have the
spaces necessary to allow delivery of the curriculum. The original
statement highlighted a few non-suburban schools but left others out.
To be complete, I’ve included all of them regardless of their location :

· Barringer ES - The main portion of this school was built in 1951. As
a “Florida Plan� school it became a major impediment to the delivery of a
modern educational program. Florida Plan schools were generally a
cluster of buildings with six to eight classrooms. Each classroom had an
exterior entry door and was “air conditioned� by cross ventilation. The
physical condition of the buildings and the security challenges that they
present today necessitated replace of the school. This school is currently at
92% capacity.
· Druid Hills ES - The main portion of this school was built in 1960.
As a “Florida Plan� school it became a major impediment to the delivery
of a modern educational program. This school is currently at 89%
capacity.
· First Ward ES - The main portion of this school was built in 1961.
Although renovated and added onto, the building no longer supported the
delivery of a good educational program. This school is currently at
119% capacity.
· Highland Mill Montessori ES - The main portion of this school was
built in 1954. As a “Florida Plan� school it became a major impediment to
the delivery of a modern educational program. This school is currently at
88% capacity.
· Lincoln Heights ES - The main portion of this school was built in
1956. As a “Florida Plan� school it became a major impediment to the delivery of a modern educational program. Today this school is at 100% capacity.
· J.H. Gunn ES - The main portion of this school was built in 1952.
Although renovated and added onto, the building no longer supported the
delivery of a good educational program. This school is currently at
112% of capacity.
· Merry Oaks ES - The main portion of this school was built in 1952.
As a “Florida Plan� school it became a major impediment to the delivery of a modern educational program. This school is currently at 129% capacity.
· Pinewood ES - The main portion of this school was built in 1953. The
building no longer supported the delivery of a good educational
program.
This school is currently at 115% capacity.
· Selwyn ES - The main portion of this school was built in 1958. As a
“Florida Plan� school it became a major impediment to the delivery of a
modern educational program. This school is currently at 124% capacity.
· Sterling ES - The main portion of this school was built in 1937.
Although renovated and added onto, the building no longer supported the
delivery of a good educational program. This school is at 89% capacity.
· Windsor Park ES - The main portion of this school was built in 1960.
As
a “Florida Plan� school it became a major impediment to the delivery of
a modern educational program. This school is at 121% capacity.

In addition, numerous schools have been renovated, and expanded to
provide adequate classrooms and core facilities. Although significant
portions of these schools were demolished, the parts of these schools that were worth saving were saved. These schools include:

· Ashley Park ES - The main portion of this school was built in 1956.
As a “Florida Plan� school it became a major impediment to the delivery of
a modern educational program. Major portions of the existing building
remain today as part of the new school. Today this school is at 64% capacity.
· Billingsville ES - The main portion of this school was built in 1927
and the mid ‘50’s. As a “Florida Plan� school it became a major impediment
to the delivery of a modern educational program. The newer, 1991 portions
of the school remain as part of the new school. The school has reopened
for the ’05-06 school year. It is at 81% capacity.
· Eastover ES - The main portion of this school was built in the 1935.
This portion was saved while the 1952 portion of the school was
demolished to make room for the new classrooms. Today this school is at 114% capacity.
· Elizabeth Traditional ES - The main portion of this school was built
in 1935. This portion was saved while a later portion of the school was
demolished to make room for the new classrooms. Today this school is
at 103% capacity.
· Myers Park Traditional ES - The main portion of this school was
built in 1928. This portion was saved and new classrooms added. Today this school is at 102% capacity.
· Oakhurst ES - The main portion of this school was built in 1959.
Portions were demolished while other portions were renovated. Today
this school is at 83% capacity.
· Oaklawn ES - The main portion of this school was built in 1964.
Portions were saved. The renovated school opened in 2004 as a language
immersion magnet. The nature of this program allowed filling only K-1
grades initially because students are taught entirely in the foreign
language. Today this school is at 58% capacity and is expected to grow
as a grade level is added each successive year.
· Thomasboro ES - The main portion of this school was built in 1962.
This portion was saved while the 1952 portion of the school was demolished
to make room for new classrooms. Today this school is at 92% capacity.
· Westerly Hills ES - The main portion of this school was built in
1968.
Only a minor portion was demolished. There were major additions. Today
this school is at 66% capacity.

With reference to Marie G. Davis, the School Board initially made the
decision to scale back the size of the renovation. Since that time, a
decision has been made to re-task the school, turning it into a magnet
school for grades 6 – 12. There has been some thought that this would
be the site for a Junior ROTC magnet school. This has been under
discussion for a while. The bottom line is that the school will not be built
larger than it needs to be, yet it will fulfill the commitment made to keep a
school in that community.

Walter G. Byers in a new elementary school that was mentioned as being
half-filled. It is at 91% capacity.

The Need

The dissenters further state that the bond package is unaffordable.
Our citizens have been complaining more and more about crowded schools.
The School Board has no taxing authority and is entirely dependent upon the County Commission for capital funding. So what is the alternative?
The need is with us today! This community cannot afford to ignore any of
our school facility needs.

CMS has projected 53,000 additional students will enter school in the
next 10 years. Fifty-one new schools plus many renovations will be needed
to keep up with the demand. The Long Range Facilities Master Plan calls
for a total of $1.97 billion dollars in capital needs over the next decade.
Because of an effort to focus tight capital dollars on classroom seats,
school district support facilities—the same facilities that the dissenters
would have you defer– have not been addressed since 1987. In that
time the square footage of facilities has doubled and the school bus fleet
has increased by 60% to keep up with the number of students. Seventy
existing schools don’t meet educational standards. Many were built before there were such things as special education, computers or kindergarten. At
some point the community must address these issues. To not do so is not
only damaging to children, it could potentially be damaging to our bond
rating and our economy. Communities that don’t invest in critical
infrastructure don’t retain AAA bond ratings or attract new jobs.

The dissenters have said that “unaddressed suburban growth has produced
huge trailer farms and students lunching outdoors on winter days.�
Yet, the history of the support of bonds by these same people is weak.

The School Bond Particulars

The referendum’s $427 million in school construction projects would
include 10 new schools in high-growth areas of the county, renovations
and additions to 14 schools, and numerous lifecycle replacements and
structural improvements throughout the system. Of the $66 million
question for land purchases, $46 million would be used to buy land for
future parks, libraries and schools and $20 million would be used to
protect the Mountain Island Lake watershed, which supplies much of our
drinking water. There will also be a $46.5 million question for
Central Piedmont Community College and a $14.5 million item on law enforcement facilities.

The Suburbs vs. Inner City?

Among the projects the dissenters are suggesting be deferred are
renovations and additions at North Mecklenburg, South Mecklenburg,
Alexander, Alexander Graham, Cochrane, Davidson, McClintock,
Sedgefield, Idlewild, Long Creek and Amy James. The average age of these schools is 45 years. The dissenters suggest that the focus of capital expenditures should be suburban needs. Yet seven of these projects are in the suburbs.
Upon completion these projects will provide the system with over 6,700
seats that are adequate and supported by the requisite core facilities
that they do not have today. If adequate seats with appropriate core
facilities at our new schools are important, why shouldn’t it be
equally as important at our older facilities, particularly when some of these
older schools are considered “low performing�?

Increased Costs

The dissenters have also questioned the increase in costs for
elementary schools, which were previously completed at $11 million with new ones budgeted for $16 million. In the last 22 months the average cost per square foot has increased from $93 to $130 – an increase of 39%! To use budget numbers that were the basis of the costs in the 2002 Bond
Referendum would ensure that funds would be exhausted before all
projects were completed.

Also, according to the chief of school planning for the NC Department
of Public Instruction, dramatic increases in costs were seen in early 2004
and have continued. Steel and concrete have been in increasingly short
supply. The cost of fuel has compounded the situation.

Intentions and Fairness

Those who are opposed to the bonds have clearly stated their intention:
to defeat the bonds and then attempt to fund only new construction in
suburban areas with Certificates of Participation, which are not voted
upon by the public and are more expensive. They have ignored the fact
that the percentage of proposed bond projects devoted to growth at 61%
vs. renovations at 28% is reflective of the percentage in the Long Range
Facilities Master Plan. This is a plan that was vetted and signed off
by city and town planners throughout Mecklenburg County…a plan that
combined and prioritized both growth and renovation needs. Another consideration is that using COPs to fund $253.8 million in construction would have an estimated additional cost over 20 years of $2.5 to $6.3 million over traditional General Obligation bonds.

The dissenters are suggesting that suburban students deserve more of
their fair share of the dollars available for school construction, yet over
$843 million of the $1.8 billion dollars spent since 1985 have been in
districts 1 and 6 alone, all that despite that fact that some representatives from these districts on both the school board and county
commission have consistently voted against placing referenda on the
ballot.

The strength of our community is that we all share in the costs and we
all share in the benefits. The entire community needs strong schools. We
need to vote yes for the bonds. You can see further details on how past
bond monies have been spent, as well as future plans, at
www.voteyesforbonds.com.

Kit Cramer
Group Vice President-Education, Charlotte Chamber
Vice Chair, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education

Mecklenburg County Government spending paid for by local taxes has more than doubled in 11 years, marking an average annual increase of 10.2 percent. Driving much of the spending binge are payments of principal and interest on debt issued for school construction. Just as a bigger car loan requires a greater monthly payment, government’s annual debt service cost grows as bond debt piles up. Since 1995, $1.5 billion of school construction debt has been approved. Yet today, despite a property tax burden 116 percent higher than in 1995, we still confront an overcrowding crisis in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. What’s wrong? Priorities!

Tonight, the Board of Education is expected to request a total November bond referendum of $510 million­$427 million for construction and renovation and $80 million for land acquisition. This proposed bond package is unaffordable and unfocused on the priority of providing every student a permanent seat in a school near home. It promises to repeat mistakes made since 1999 when serviceable schools were razed and replaced only to be half-filled­including Lincoln Heights, Billingsville, Pinewood, Westerly Hills, Walter G. Byers, Thomasboro, Druid Hills and Ashley Park Schools. Reconstructed First Ward Elementary, for another example, has 49 classrooms for 639 students­13 students per room. Meanwhile, unaddressed suburban growth has produced huge trailer farms and students lunching outdoors on winter days. Mecklenburg taxpayers cannot afford continued spending without priorities and neither can students.

We Republican members of the Boards of Education and County Commissioners offer an alternative approach focused on CMS’s critical infrastructure need­relief of overcrowding. We favor $253.8 million of Commissioner-approved COPs financing over two years strictly for construction of new seats (i.e., new schools and seat additions to existing schools) and no bond referendum this fall, except for the planned land acquisition bonds. If the budget-busting $510 million package is submitted, voters should vote “no,â€? knowing that growth construction needs can be met through COPs. (Certificates of Participation (COPS) are bonds that have as collateral the property affected; the particular school or library. COPS do not require a vote of the public. The County Commission may issue these by a simple majority vote. General Obligation Bonds have as collateral everyone’s property, which is why they have to be voted on by the public. The difference in interest rates is about 1/4 point.

The Board’s $510 million bond request expected tonight is not sized to cover two years of spending, but rather to break a ten-year, $2 billion spending plan into chunks voters might swallow. By contrast, the Republican COPs proposal is targeted to spending anticipated in the coming biennium. $253.8 million of COPs will provide for all new seats proposed to be constructed under the Board’s expected package. Together with $291 million in already approved bonds and COPs, $253.8 million of additional funding will amply authorize the $170 million school bond/COPs sales each January that the County Manager currently plans.

To be sure, with new COPs of $253.8 million and already approved COPs of $103 million tasked for building new seats to relieve overcrowding, CMS will have to reexamine carefully its prioritization of renovation projects for the remaining $188 million of previously approved G.O. bonds available. Nice-to-have but unnecessary projects, such as the $18 million replacement of half-full Marie G. Davis Elementary, should be reconsidered.
In addition to covering two years of spending and redirecting capital spending toward the highest priority, the Republican proposal will avoid committing CMS prematurely to decisions best considered after completing student assignment plans this fall and recruiting a new superintendent in the coming year.

Here are the details of our plan:

* Issue COPs to fund all new schools and seat additions in the forthcoming Board of Education proposal:

Southeast High School
Belmeade Road Middle School
Ridge Road Middle School
Belmeade Road Elementary School
Bradley Elementary School
Dixie River Road Elementary School
Elon Park Elementary School
Hucks Road Elementary School
Idlewild Road Elementary School
Providence Road Elementary School
North Mecklenburg HS Addition (16 classrooms)
South Mecklenburg HS Addition (9 classrooms)
Alexander MS Addition (6 classrooms)
Alexander Graham MS Addition (17 classrooms)
Cochrane MS Addition (10 classrooms)
McClintock MS Addition (9 classrooms)
Idlewild ES Addition (2 classrooms)
Long Creek ES Addition (9 classrooms)
Even as to these projects, costs may be overstated. Elementary schools just completed cost $11 million; new ones are budgeted at $16 million. The COPs approval process before County Commissioners can provide for auditing of CMS cost estimates and identify cost escalators.

* Defer/reprioritize renovation and other projects identified in the Board’s proposal:

Satellite Maintenance Facility
Transportation Maintenance Facility

RENOVATIONS
Garinger HS (science labs)
Independence HS (gymnasium)
Myers Park ES (gymnasium)
North Mecklenburg HS (renovation & addition)
South Mecklenburg HS (renovation & addition)
Alexander MS (renovation & addition)
Alexander Graham MS (renovation & addition)
Cochrane MS (renovation & addition)
Davidson MS (renovation & addition)
McClintock MS (renovation & addition)
Sedgefield MS (renovation)
Idlewild ES (renovation & addition)
Long Creek ES (partial replacement)
Amay James Pre-K (renovation)

LIFECYCLE REPLACEMENTS
East Mecklenburg HS Auditorium (renovation)
Garinger HS Track
Olympic HS Canopy
Olympic HS Emergency Generator
Olympic HS Stadium (field house, restrooms, bleacher upgrades)
South Mecklenburg HS Canopy
West Charlotte HS Track
West Mecklenburg HS Stadium (field house, restrooms, bleacher upgrades)
Hawthorne MS HVAC
Hawthorne MS Plumbing
Ranson MS Gym Floor and Bleachers
Cornelius ES Bus Lot
Pineville ES HVAC
Pineville ES Plumbing

MANDATES AND INITIATIVES
ADA Compliance
Cooler/Freezer Updates (various schools)
Fire Alarm Upgrade (Various schools)
Instructional Technology
Intercom Integration
Kitchen Hot Water (various schools)
Modular Middle
O&Q/Asbestos
Performance Contracting
Structural Evaluation and Repair

We can meet community priorities for schools and have an affordable community. Let’s take a first step in the right direction.

Board of Education Members:
County Commissioners:

__________________________________
Kaye McGarry

_________________________________
Jim Puckett

_________________________________
Larry Gauvreau

_________________________________
Dan Bishop

_________________________________
Bill James

Posted on Sun, Aug. 28, 2005
`Vote no’ campaign begins on bonds

CARRIE LEVINE
Staff Writer

Usually, politicians want your vote for something.

But three Republican Mecklenburg County commissioners have a different strategy.

They want you to vote against $427 million in school bonds on the November ballot.

Their campaign against the bonds is unusual because the county commissioners themselves set the amount to be placed on the ballot.

But the three Republicans — Jim Puckett, Dan Bishop and Bill James — thought the board should have asked voters for millions of dollars less, and they urged the board’s six Democrats to approve a lower amount.

They did not prevail, and now say voters should send a message by voting no.

“Almost always, these bond packages are unanimous or nearly unanimous (among board members),” Puckett said. “This one wasn’t. I hope the public will notice that.”
…
Puckett said voters no longer can afford tax increases and are ready to hear about ways to cut spending, even for schools.

Commissioners Chairman Parks Helms, a Democrat, said Republicans will promise to issue another type of debt — one that does not need voter approval — to build schools in the suburbs needed to meet the needs of growth.

But renovations to older inner-city schools will be left out, he said.

“The message is, we’re going to discriminate against inner-city schools,” Helms said.

Republicans say the opposite is true: The renovations to inner-city schools are included in the bond package to make it more palatable to urban voters, and those repairs represent unnecessary spending.

“We can’t afford to do things that we don’t need to do while we have grossly overcrowded schools on the fringes of the county,” Republican Dan Bishop said.

Commissioners vice chair Wilhelmenia Rembert, a Democrat, said the public has a mixed view of CMS, and building support for the bond package will not be easy.

Charlotte Observer Article…

By BRIAN GOTT - STAFF WRITER

If voters approve a school bond package at the polls this November, it won’t matter what the total bond is; suburban residents of the county will likely be the ones who end up the big losers, according to some county commissioners and school board members.

That’s because Democrats currently hold majority control of the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, and Democrats on both elected bodies said they favor filling empty seats in inner city schools ahead of building new seats in suburban schools.

For example, Commissioner Valerie Woodard, a Democrat, said she would only vote for a bond package that guarantees filling inner-city schools ahead of building new schools in high growth areas. Similarly, Commissioner Norman Mitchell, a Democrat, has often used suburban school overcrowding hostage as a means toward an end of filling inner-city school seats.

“I think some of the children in those areas can come to some of the schools in the inner city,� Woodard said. She also said it was “hog wash� that crowded schoolroom conditions hamper learning.
“I think you can have rooms at full capacity and children can still learn,� Woodard said.
…

Several school board members, like Vilma Leake, routinely make it a point to comment that the district needs to move students from overcrowded, suburban schools to fill empty seats in inner city schools, instead of building new schools in the suburbs. Others contend that the school system has for years been using brick-and-mortar misprioritization to supplant forced busing to accomplish the same end.

Excerpt…
The Republicans – commissioners Jim Puckett, Dan Bishop and Bill James and school board members Larry Gauvreau and Kaye McGarry, want the COPs to be spent only on “new seats,� or the areas in the county with the highest growth and the most overcrowded schools. Of course, that might not matter with a board of commissioners controlled by a tax-and-spend majority bent on spending money on under-capacity schools.

Excerpt…
McGarry said the core problem is that Democrats on both the school board and board of commissioners are not being fiscally responsible, something that voters need to be made aware of. In turn, she said, voters need to lobby their elected officals to spend any bond or COPs money in a fiscally realistic manner that puts priorities over partisanship and political pandering.

“We have a very liberal board of commissioners,� McGarry said. “I just think they don’t have any real sense of fiscal accountability to the taxpayers.

“Our most critical need is the new [school] construction,� she said. “I think they are bypassing the real issue. Everybody’s little pet project is in there and that’s not showing fiscal accountability.�

Gauvreau, who represents the northern end of the county where suburban schools are routinely overpacked and littered with trailers, said he agreed that any bond package that fails to prioritize spending in the areas where it’s needed the most to alleviate severe overcrowding would be a loss for the community.

“The powers of Charlotte are always going to try to cut off suburban areas first,� Gauvreau said. “It’s institutional liberalism at work. The priority isn’t the suburban students. It’s wrong, but that’s the way they think.�

Rhino Times Article

Excerpt…
While more school nurses would be great, this seemed a diversion from the main point of the summit — which was what? Apparently, over a dozen politicians spent an entire day listening to presentations some of them could have given themselves in order to build support for a real estate transfer tax, and for the 20 percent increase in funding the schools are seeking.

The Charlotte Chamber’s education group has been studying the transfer tax option behind closed doors since last year under the guidance of school board member and VP of the Chamber’s education group Kit Kramer. If the transfer tax became reality, one percent of a home’s value would pass to the county every time it is bought or sold. Creative Loafing’s attempts to get minutes from the Chamber meetings on the tax were rebuffed by Kramer.

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At the moment, it appears the school board will be petitioning the county to put $600 million in bonds for school construction on the ballot this fall, which would ultimately be paid for with property tax revenue unless the county gets a transfer tax.

Taxpayers can’t afford to keep paying the bills for all of this school construction, said School Board member Vilma Leake in support of the transfer tax, despite the fact that those who buy and sell homes here are the same taxpayers who already pay school bond bills.

Whatever the case, there is some rumbling that the bonds, which will likely include funds for several suburban schools the school board has put off building, could face political friction. Suburban school building has been a political hot potato since 1998, when the courts ended forced busing for racial integration here. Some local leaders believe that more schools in the suburbs will lead to more racial segregation of both urban and suburban schools.

At the summit, school board member Louise Woods questioned the need for large numbers of new schools, suggesting that trailers were educationally adequate facilities, a line of thinking guaranteed to enrage suburban parents who feel they’ve waited their turn while the system built schools in less populous central and middle ring areas of the county.

Though the school system has yet to offer an official bond proposal, Democratic County Commissioner Norman Mitchell, who did not attend the summit, is threatening to lobby his fellow Democrats not to support the bonds if Republicans on the commission complain too loudly about the tax hike Democrats say they’ll need to pay for increasing school costs.

Building the schools suburbanites and ultimately Republicans want will add more debt service to the budget, Mitchell says, which will cause more tax hikes, so it is disingenuous for Republicans to advocate for the bonds but against tax hikes, then turn around and blame the Democrats for the tax hikes next year when commissioners are up for election.

“They (the Republicans) are complaining about tax increases and about school overcrowding,” said Mitchell. “Is that fair? They have used tax increases to beat us over the head for years. (Democrat Commissioners) Parks Helms, Wilhelmenia Rembert and Jennifer Roberts could be voted out because of the tax increase.

CL site is down. Creative Loafing April 27, 2005
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