The Fall of CMS, Good for Charlotte?

[thumper]

I read in the paper today that CMS wants 2 billion more for more school buildings. I am not sure that I trust them to make the proper decisions with this huge sum of money considering where we are today. I would support breaking it up into smaller pieces.

[uptownliving]

The $2 Billion is over a 10 year period...due to the expected increase in student population of 50,000.

If you do break up the school district...then the taxes in the suburban Meck Co will shoot through the roof...since that is where all the expansion is needed...they will have to assume the debt to build all the new schools.

Something the district is looking into is turning some of the empty Big Box stores into schools....this takes about $6M in investment compared to about $30M to build a new school from scratch.

[dubone]

turning some of the empty Big Box stores into schools

um....don't students need windows? I guess we can unload the inventory with rebates when they graduate, and eventually move the schools to china for lower cost.

(if they do a good job with the design, i'd be for it... but CMS hardly has the track record for doubt-benefit)

[monsoon]

Indeed. It will be very interesting to see what they propose in terms of how taxes will be used, obligations on current debt, etc.

Since it is actually Mecklenburg County which owns all the school facilities, and the debt, my guess is they will vote to have themselves set up as an independant school district funded by Mecklenburg county govt. i.e. Instead of one school district in the county there will be more, but the county continues to fund and assume all the debt. This is actually the norm in NC. The county might be forced to spend disproportionate sums in the North for a few years so the infrastructure can catch up with the needs.

The idea to place city students in vacated big box development could help this a great deal for the students that remain in Charlotte.

[uptownliving]

The Norm in counties with different school districts is to charge different tax rates depending on which district you are in. Its not going to fly politically for people in Charlotte to pay taxes for schools that their kids are barred from attending...it would be just like asking Charlotte taxpayers to assume debt for Monroe schools. Not going to happen.

As a side note: Meck Co is just about maxed out on the amount of money it can borrow and yet maintain its AAA rating. Either taxes will have to be raised or higher interest rates paid through lower debt ratings in the future....or of course, no more borrowing.

[monsoon]

As I said above, their proposal will be interesting. I would not be surprised they expect the County to pay a great deal since the whole point of the matter is the area is being taxed to build schools in the inner city that are not doing the students in the north much good.

I look forward to what they come up with.

[uptownliving]

The kid that is leading this effort is cute and comes across as intelligent.

[monsoon]

Very good analysis in this week's Huntersville Herald which has done an excellent job at bringing CMS's failures to the public's attention. I find it interesting that not only is CMS board member Larry Gauvreau involved, but District 1 Comissioner Puckett and NC State Legislator Drew Saunders are supportive if it can be shown this is a real movement. Political support will be there if the residents are serious about it.

Interesting suggestions from Gauvreau on how to break up CMS. He suggests a North, South and Charlotte districts. Next week's meeting will be really interesting.

Is Breaking Up Hard To Do?

Photo courtesy The Huntersville Herald

[monsoon]

I read in the paper today that CMS wants 2 billion more for more school buildings.  I am not sure that I trust them to make the proper decisions with this huge sum of money considering where we are today.  I would support breaking it up into smaller pieces.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thumper apparently the local representative to the CMS Board agrees with you.

From Larry Gauvreau in the Huntersvllle Herald

"....But I think CMS has abdicated its responsibility by the way the have managed things in recent years. They have wasted tens of millions (of dollars) in ridiculous building schemes. They have managed to do this to themselves and I don't know that (secession) isn't an answer."

[uptownliving]

The quote is from Meck Co Commisioner Puckett....not Gauvreau.

That is a good article from the Herald...will be interesting to see where this goes...obviously there are more questions now than answers.

[monsoon]

The quote is from Meck Co Commisioner Puckett....not Gauvreau.

That is a good article from the Herald...will be interesting to see where this goes...obviously there are more questions now than answers.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You are correct. Puckett isn't generally considered as anti-CMS as Gauvreau.

[monsoon]

An update on the story in today's observer. If their poll is any indication, the vast majority of people want to see CMS broken up. I am not sure they understand the long term implications for how it will affect development in the city. Especially if the inner city is left with sub-par schools.

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/liv...on/10910510.htm

[uptownliving]

Or how the North towns are aware how this will affect their taxes going up.

[DubbC]

As a product of the bussing CMS back in the 90's, I strongly believe the people in the northern portion of the county should just suck it up!! They knew there weren't any schools up there when they moved there... but what's real funny, the Ballantyne area gets new schools every year... We see where the priority is....

[uptownliving]

Looks like they had a good turnout at the meeting last night. Did anyone go?

[monsoon]

Looks like they had a good turnout at the meeting last night. Did anyone go?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

According to the peeps around here, a lot of people could not get in because there was not enough room.

[monsoon]

Matthews has joined the effort to break up CMS.

[peaceloveunderstanding]

wow, so it really is happening? I sure it hope it drives property taxes down, or at least prevents them from rising even more. Property taxes are wee bit high right now.

[Southend]

General question- since the residents of mecklenburg helped build the existing schools in matthews and north meck with our tax money, will we get a pro-rated recoup back to the cms rolls since north meck will be inheriting county funded schools and infrastructure?

[monsoon]

General question- since the residents of mecklenburg helped build the existing schools in matthews and north meck with our tax money, will we get a pro-rated recoup back to the cms rolls since north meck will be inheriting county funded schools and infrastructure?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I don't think the proposals include taking the school system away from Mecklenburg County, (which actually funds CMS). Instead the school system would be broken into serveral districts still funded by the County that would have independent locally elected boards and which would serve only the students in their district.

The argument could be made however the is a net outflow of taxes in the area and that if there was a complete break, that the pro-ration would go the other way.

BTW, Ranson Road Elementary, a brand new school under construction in Huntersville, will open next year. Yesterday CMS announced they will be placing mobile classrooms on the site because they underestimated what was needed there. The local parents are livid about stuff such as this.

[Neo]

BTW,  Ranson Road Elementary, a brand new school under construction in Huntersville, will open next year.  Yesterday CMS announced they will be placing mobile classrooms on the site because they underestimated what was needed there.  The local parents are livid about stuff such as this.

It's uncalled for! Putting TRAILERS outside of a school that hasn't even been finished yet? That is absurd, I really hope that NoMeck breaks away from CMS. The school system in Union County (where I reside) isn't much better though, most if not all of our schools have trailers in rows.

[dubone]

From the look of it, the county is the group that is in charge of whether this whole schism happens or not. I think when they determine if they are going to break up their own school district, they will decide what to do it the money and real estate.

My guess is that the county is looking for more power/control over the management of the district by remaining in control of all/both the resulting districts. right now, cms does as it pleases because it is a monopoly in the county. And even if 20% of the money is spent wastefully, the entire planet rises up in revolt if the county even considers anything less than a certain funding increase each year.

My hope is that they do not split it up by municipality (by charlotte/non-charlotte) or urban vs. suburban. As much as suburban white soccer moms stroke at the thought of little blond johnny going to school near a poor black johnerra (forgive the broad-brush strokes), it is hugely important for the health of this area of there is some structured diversity.

I would really be for an x-y axis that splits the county with a straight veritical line straight n,s,e,w from the square. I think each quadrant of the county is reasonably diverse (n/s are more white, and e/w are more minority in this county). SouthWest Meck can figure it's issues out, NorthWest meck can figure it's issues out, etc. and no kid is bussed that far.

Part of me thinks that if they try to separate by municipality or start trading neighborhoods and roads as boundaries, this will get very ugly. The only thing i can think would be more generalized would be a simple quandrant-based split (and they could possibly make the lines grey bands where people near the borders can chose.)

[uptownliving]

My gut feeling right now is that the split won't actually happen...but that it will get the attention of all those in power and will lead to reforms being made at CMS that will make the situation better.

[cltniners]

clt has intimate knowledge of one of the biggest problems at cms. principals are throwing away discipline notices completed by teachers to ensure that their school recives funding. this cannot help the image of cms.

[monsoon]

I think that the recent rash of crime at Hopewell is playing a greater role in the effort to secced than overcrowding.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Apparently the Mayor of Huntersville, Kim Phillips, sent an offer to CMS 3 weeks ago in which Huntersville offered to pay for extra police officers to be present at Hopewell (and N. Meck). A very gracious offer since the city taxpayers are already paying county taxes for this.

As of 3+ weeks, absolutely no response from CMS. People will consider this another log on the fire that CMS is too large and too arrogant when it can't even respond to the Mayor of Huntersville. Of course now that this has made the news CMS wants to talk to Phillips.

I say, break it up.