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.

Suburban groups say no to CMS bonds

The $290 million bond package for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools got its first formal opposition today,  as Tom Davis from SPARK Educational Performances and Tim Timmerman from SMART issued a statement urging voters to say no (read their statement here).

SPARK,  or Strategic Partners for Accountability and Reform of Key Educational Performances,  is a north suburban group that has argued for splitting CMS into smaller districts.  SMART, or South Mecklenburg Alliance of Responsible Taxpayers, is based in the southern Ballantyne area and joined with SPARK to explore the notion of splitting the county into northern, southern and central school districts.

Timmerman at a SMART meeting

It's unclear how many people these two groups represent.  "We've got hundreds of people out there who support us,"  Davis,  an Air Force retiree and Republican political activist from Huntersville,  said today. (Update: Davis, who ran for N.C. House in the 2012 Republican primary, says he's now registered unaffiliated.)  He said he and Timmerman weren't the only people who crafted the position statement,  but he declined to give numbers or names,  saying many fear running afoul of the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce,  a major backer of the "Vote Yes for Education Bonds" campaign.

The  "vote no"  position paper raises several issues,  including uncertainty over the role that charter schools and vouchers will play in CMS growth projections,  skepticism about the  "no tax increase"  claim and a call for Mecklenburg County to focus its energy on getting teachers a cost-of-living raise.  County officials say they can cover the cost of repaying the CMS bonds,  along with $210 million in bonds for Central Piedmont Community College on the Nov. 5 ballot,  without raising taxes.  But Davis argues that today's voters and officials can't  "tie the hands"  of future county officials.

Davis

"Current elected officials and special lobbying groups cannot bind the voting privilege of future elected officials. This breaches credibility and trust,"  the statement says. "No one can guarantee what will transpire with future tax rates."

The  "vote yes"  campaign hopes to raise $300,000 in donations and has hired a PR firm to help make the case.  Davis said the SPARK/SMART effort won't be anything like that.  "We're not going to get money into it,"  he said.  "We're going to get the information on the street and let people make decisions."

He said the groups don't plan to take a stand on the CPCC bonds.

Just last week,  Davis was just appointed to the Bond Oversight Committee,  a citizen panel that monitors how CMS spends its bond money,  by school board member Richard McElrath. Davis says he missed the Bond Oversight Committee's meeting last week because he didn't realize it was coming up just two days after his appointment.

McElrath opposed the last CMS bonds,  in 2007,  before being elected to the board in 2009.  He's running for reelection this year and said he doesn't expect to take a stand for or against this year's bonds.