Board of Education leaders in the region make a valid point when they bemoan the fact that public school districts are being held hostage when it comes to building new schools in North Carolina.
It’s a concern being heard from school boards in cash-strapped counties like Robeson, Bladen and Scotland as aging schools and shifting populations begin to take their toll.
The root of the problem lies with charter schools, which receives state funding paid by local taxpayers through property taxes — just as public schools do — which are not required by the state to adhere to the same regulations and restrictions when it comes to hiring and paying educators, or building school facilities.
For example, it is a fact the cost to construct a public school building is three to four times more expensive than building a charter school in North Carolina. In real numbers, that can mean that a public school built here may cost in the neighborhood of $20 million, and a similar-sized charter school built in the same location may cost less than $7 million.
If you’d like a parallel to put this into perspective, it’s quite similar to the U.S. government paying (in 2014) $32 for a single screw, $48 for a simple hammer, $458 for printer toner — which should lead to the conclusion that it’s government causing the problem.
The other part of the equation here is that many of the differences between a public school and a charter school build aren’t considered necessarily value-added or safety inspired. For instance, one difference between the two which seems to add cost deals with minimal ceiling heights — a public school construction requires higher ceilings, which adds cost.
Local school boards in each of the state’s 100 counties know all of this to be true, and many are getting hit with the double-whammy of facing exorbitant construction costs for new schools as well as the loss of students to the rising number of charter schools across the state.
What’s the answer? It seems there can be only one: local education, county, city and municipality leaders must band together and pester their elected state representatives in Raleigh to change the costly regulations currently challenging school districts that are in dire need of new schools.
Change isn’t something that typically happens very quickly in the General Assembly, so starting the process now and not letting up is important. And it shouldn’t be left up to local leaders, either — taxpayers should also be squawking loud and constant. Folks aiming their ire at school boards that have little choice but to build new schools are misdirecting that ire.
Allowing this to continue will only fuel the possibility that school districts must find ways to cut back, which severely hurts the future of education.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
“The time is always right to do the right thing.” (Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.)