Bountiful and Broke Bonds

Terry Stoops, at a roundtable discussion with Lockwood Phillips and Connie Asero on the Viewpoints Radio Show, pontificated on the outcomes of Onslow County, Carteret County,
and Charlotte-Mecklenburg school (CMS) bonds.  The show
highlighted the overwhelming support in Onslow (almost two-to-one
residents voting for the $90 million bond package) and Carteret County
(nearly a four-to-one vote in favor of the two bonds totaling $50
million), and the devastating defeat
in Charlotte-Mecklenburg.  Other guests, including a school board
member from Onslow and a county commissioner from Carteret, asked
questions about the future of school construction in light of bond
defeats.  All agreed that costs would continue to mount in the
future (as a Depart of Public Instruction assessment due out in January
will necessarily highlight), and that the results of the Leandro
court case will make the equalization of school funding for
construction from state funds almost impossible.  Stoops said
that, while “deconsolidation will help improve management of school
construction costs”, in the immediate future the state would “benefit
from implementing a merit-pay system for superintendents and school
board members,” thereby tying accountability to job security.