A November referendum on bonds for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and Central Piedmont Community College won't be locked in until August, but county commissioners' approval of a capital plan last week makes it a pretty sure thing.
CMS and CPCC leaders are talking about the best way to present their needs and plans, while the folks at the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce are kicking around strategies and names for a bond campaign. Publicly-funded bodies can't spend money to influence an election, so there's always a careful line between the public "bond information" campaigns and the privately-funded "vote yes" push.
Mecklenburg County' five-year capital plan will provide $290 million for CMS and $210 million for CPCC, says county Finance Director Dena Diorio. Here's how projects break down under that plan:
In 2014-15, the county would provide money to finish the last of the CMS 2007 bond projects: A new school to relieve crowding at Highland Creek Elementary and renovations to Hawthorne High. Other 2014-15 projects would be:
*Work at Alexander Middle in Huntersville, Myers Park High, Olympic High and Statesville Road Elementary (see details of CMS projects here).
*Reopening Oakhurst and Starmount as elementary schools.
* Construction of a new preK-8 school in west Charlotte, a new K-8 language immersion school in east Charlotte and a replacement for Nations Ford Elementary on the campus of Waddell Language Academy.
* Buying land for a new K-8 magnet in the Ballantyne area and an expansion of Northridge Middle School.
* For CPCC, doing work on the Giles Science Building and Cato Campus, plus buying land for projects at the Levine, Central and Merancas campuses.
In 2015-16, CMS would get money for projects at East Mecklenburg and South Mecklenburg high schools and Northwest School of the Arts. CPCC would launch projects at the Levine and Harper campuses.
In 2016-17, CMS would launch work at Northridge, Selwyn Elementary and five preK-8 schools, while CPCC would get money for a Central Campus project and Terrell renovation/expansion.
In 2017-18, CMS would build the new Ballantyne-area K-8 magnet, convert Davidson Elementary to a K-8 school and do career-technology improvements at Garinger, Independence, West Mecklenburg and North Mecklenburg high schools. CPCC would get money for a Hendrick Automotive expansion, renovation/expansion to the Advanced Technology Center and the Merancas Campus project.
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
A peek at menu for CMS, CPCC bonds
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18 comments:
Ann,
Where does changing Oakhurst to a school again come into this picture? Morrison had some plans that don't seem to be in this bond list. Do they still exist?
Oh, good catch. I was afraid I'd miss something trying to list these from a spreadsheet. Yes, Oakhurst is in that first year. I'm adding it now.
Why on earth is the Charlotte Chamber involved in this at all? They really need to focus on selling memberships to their little club. Anything related to tax payer funding should NEVER have the words Charlotte Chamber attatched to them. Their history is very poor ie. Nascar Hall Of Fame , Epicenter and of course Chiquitta all CC cooked deals that suck the life out of local tax payers wallets.
Ann, Scott McCauly visited the HCE SLT last month and indicated that the school to help with overcrowding would open in 2015-2016. Based on your article, sounds like construction won't start until 2015. Can you confirm, hoping that is still slated to open in 2015.
Argh, 9 a.m., I had mixed up the county's FY labeling system -- their FY 15 is 2014-15 and I had labeled it 2015-16 (corrected now). So I think it's still correct that it could be funded in 2014-15 and open the next year. Sorry!
1600 students at comm house middle school. Can this overcrowding situation be handled CMS? Oh, it's in south charlotte so the answer will be no.
This may be sad, but the people who actually pay taxes - me - are voting NO to these bonds.
There was discussion one time that the renovations for Northwest School of the Arts would be done with COPS money instead of bond money. Has that been changed now?
FWIW, my understanding is the capital plan lists everything that will be done. Dena said most of it will come from bonds, but there will also be some pay-as-you-go money. I hesitate to say anything definitive about construction financing (my brain has gotten so rusty since the last bond campaign), but didn't the county decide not to do COPS anymore?
9:15, the same problem is at Southwest Middle....almost 1500 in a building that is supposed to hold 1200. Building is only 10 years old, but nearby Kennedy has room......
Nothing will be addressed in classroom overcrowding.
The best scenario is to VOTE THESE BONDS DOWN until CMS gets their head out of the dirt with a bonafide list of absolute needs.
To state "my understanding is the capital plan lists everything that will be done" was the same when the last bond package was passed and we still haven't spent all of those funds.
Since then, we've closed schools, made a school system within a school system with Project LIFT and changed superintendents.
Times have changed and so have needs.
The only problem is, CMS and the BOE haven't.
Status quo..status quo...
Until the make up of the BOE changes these very issue repeated time and again will continue to hamper CMS. How much did CMS pay Millard House to relocate to Charlotte? Home much was his sign on bonus? Heath I am talking too you and the board. Why is he looking to leave so soon? And yes I assume you have a contract in place so that he pays back the relo deal and the sign on bonus! I mean seriously we chased and paid this guy who is on the job for less than 12 months and he is bolting? That Bow Tie must be too tight for our summer heat.HOLD the CMS BOE accountable and vote no bonds and no to anyone on current board for re-election.
VOTE NO BONDS simply , because the Charlotte Chambers name is linked to supporting a marketing plan for them. Pick a better partner next time CMS and stop being so blatantly influenced.
It's interesting to note that most of the posts here are directed at CMS and yet CPCC is looking for almost as much. CPCC is a great community asset, but needs to slim down it's incredibly top-heavy administration and temper the college president's overheated ambition. Really the county doesn't need any more Corinthian columns and other building excesses.
4:58, yes that is the shame (top heavy administrations) of government sponsored education. Teachers, students and taxpayers get the short end all the time. CPCC is generally a great value for this community. It has fixed CMS's mess for a long time. It has helped those improve their standard of living once they have decided to "get with the program" and be a contribution to society. Why CMS allows those wastes to keep happening is beyond me.
I've decided anything Charlotte Regional Visitor's Agency and the Charlotte Chamber supports is not good for us taxpayers. They keep supporting the "shiny toys" of these politicians intended to encourage new businesses to come here but the people we need to get involved in the community, do not move to this community. They either get allowances for private schools or move to neighboring counties or SC. The few that move into the county get well into school assignment districts to guarantee some level of education for their children.
4:58...
Most people leave CPCC alone because they are the ones who clean up CMS' mess.
wouldn't reducing the bloated downtown office ease up plenty of money for some of these projects
7:00, numerous school districts have taken detailed audits of many of their programs looking for such bloat. The most incredible thing they are finding is the administrative and managerial bloat caused by taking federal money. While federal dollars are generally just under 10% of the system's budget, they cause expenditure of about 2 dollars from other funds for every dollar they receive from the feds. Seems like a good place to start whacking to me. But democrats and their liberal attack dogs don't grasp the concept of turning down the federal "crack".
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