District 1 won't be part of WTVI debate

WTVI's televised school board debate won't include north suburban District 1,  and incumbent Rhonda Lennon isn't happy about that.  Fifteen-minute segments on each of the other four contested races will air from about 4-5 p.m. Sunday,  after the Charlotte City Council debates.

Mast

District 1 challenger Christine Mast told me she couldn't make today's scheduled taping because she has  "other commitments with parents."

Lennon says she offered to adjust her schedule to fit with Mast's,  but instead the sponsoring League of Women Voters pulled the District 1 segment.  "The policy is that if one candidate in a 2 candidate race is unable or unwilling to participate there will be no debate,"  emailed Amanda Boo Raymond,  the league's executive producer.  "I appreciate your understanding and best of luck in your campaign."

Lennon

"I am very disappointed I will not be allowed to participate since my opponent cancelled," Lennon told me. "I would have loved the opportunity to talk about my record and my priorities going forward for CMS."

The league's voter guide has been released, with 15,000 print copies going to libraries and other locations, but there are a lot of gaps from candidates who didn't reply. There's no school board race with all candidates responding, and neither contender for Charlotte mayor replied. I'm not sure what this says about this year's campaign and the way candidates are trying to connect with their voters. But check the right rail on this blog for links to the Observer's voter guide and other sources of more complete information.

And an update on campaign finance: The pre-election reports, which were due Monday, are still trickling in as the mail arrives and the Board of Elections gets them posted. Lennon says her total is more than $4,000. And I just plain messed up on Bolyn McClung in District 6: He reports having $11,337, including $10,800 in loans. We've corrected it online, but the print story is off.

Back-and-forth on education bonds continues

Central Piedmont Community College has launched its own  "Vote Yes for CPCC Bonds"  campaign,  in addition to the education bonds campaign led by the Charlotte Chamber and MeckEd.  Mecklenburg voters will be asked to approve $210 million for CPCC and $290 million for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools on Nov. 5.

Public bodies such as CMS and CPCC walk a fine line in promoting bonds.  State law prohibits using public money and resources to advocate for a  "yes"  or  "no"  vote,  and CPCC officials acknowledged in September they had crossed that line by forwarding an email from the  "Vote Yes"  campaign on President Tony Zeiss' work account.  But the CPCC campaign is funded by up to $50,000 in private money provided by the CPCC Foundation,  with no government money involved,  said spokesman Jeff Lowrance.

Lowrance said it's traditional for CPCC to run its own campaign in addition to chamber efforts to promote community college and K-12 bonds.

CMS,  meanwhile,  is pushing hard to provide information while stopping just short of advocating for a specific vote. Many schools are sending home copies of bond information from the district's web site,  often with notes like this one from Ballantyne Elementary's Bear Blast:

On November 5th, all registered voters in Mecklenburg County will have a chance to decide whether CMS receives $290 million in school bonds.  If approved, the bond money will be used to add classrooms, build new schools, repair again systems, and renovate older schools across Charlotte and Mecklenburg County.  Please help show our students that every vote counts by taking part in the elections on November 5th.  ... Visit the CMS website for more information about the bond referendum and why strong public schools matter to all of us.  Please let us know if you have further questions and again, make your vote count on November 5th.

Christine Mast,  who is running for the District 1 school board seat,  argues that such material is inappropriate.  "School communications are clearly being used for bond advocacy by getting our students to bring these documents home with them,"  she wrote in an email to Superintendent Heath Morrison.   The web site implies that "a  'yes'  bond vote is the only vote that supports public schools,"  she wrote.

CMS Chief Communication Officer Kathryn Block disagrees.  The wording  "informs people about how the bond money, if approved, would be used and the importance of participating in the voting process,"  she said.  "It does not advocate for a specific position."

Meanwhile,  Tom Davis from the north suburban SPARK and Tim Timmerman from the south suburban SMART sent out a statement calling for Mecklenburg's seven municipalities to provide money for a cost-of-living allowance for CMS teachers.  They say they hope to hear Charlotte mayoral candidates Patrick Cannon and Edwin Peacock address that proposal at Wednesday's  "Solving It Together"  public forum.

Davis and Timmerman are urging voters to vote down the CMS bonds.  The only connection to teacher raises is that they're promoting a  "teachers before bricks and mortar"  slogan.  Teachers are paid from the district's operating budget,  which is separate from the budget for construction and renovation,  though county property taxes support both.