County commissioners seek enhanced schools construction funding

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Image from the NCACC website

The North Carolina Association of County Commissioners (NCACC) has endorsed several bills to improve school funding, including legislation which would put a $1.9 billion bond referendum on the November statewide ballot.

NCACC executive director Kevin Leonard, other NCACC staffers, and officials from surrounding counties at a Pasquotank County meeting “grappled with how to keep children in good, modern school buildings, an expensive task across the state,” the Carolinas Associated General Contractors (CAGC) reports.

The schools priority is the first of five NCACC priority legislative goals:

PE-1: Seek legislation to establish a new state-county partnership to address statewide public school capital challenges–including but not limited to maintenance, renovation, construction and debt–through a dedicated, stable funding stream that is consistent from county to county and sufficient to meet the school facility needs of all 100 counties.

If approved, the bond funds would be spent on school-related grants to counties. It would be the state’s second major borrowing in less than three years, following approval of the $2 billion Connect NC bond that funded projects for higher education and other purposes.

As well, NCACC officials also offered support for a bill that would allow counties to hold referendums to increase sales taxes by one-fourth of a percent to fund school capital projects.

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