School Bond Opposition is Non-partisan

Anthony Pecoraro
The recent Point of View column by John Kane and John Odom claimed that not all Republicans opposed the school bond issue. While we do oppose the bond, we certainly agree that not all Republicans oppose it, nor do all Democrats support it. It simply is not a partisan issue, nor is it about the $12 per month tax. The issue is good, honest governance and fiscal accountability. We would rather the money needed to pay the interest on this proposed bond go to giving the teacher more pay and better support. It is simply about the kids, and the schools basic mission of giving them a sound education. In 2003 when about 89% of the kids passed end-ofgrade test, Wake schools set a goal of having a 95% pass rate by 2008. Where are we now? As of 2012, the elementary school pass rate was 86.4% in math and 77.4% in reading. Middle school results were about the same. Only high school showed a very slight improvement, going from about 83% to 87%. School administrators will offer many reasons why the 95% goal has not been met changed tests etc. However, as a friend told me there is performance and explanations, performance needs no explanation, explanations are a substitute for performance. So, what do you do when objectives are not met change the subject. Talk about anything else like construction programs. We are sorry that Messrs Kane and Odom did not examine the data themselves, but appear to be taken in by the misleading statistics released by the Wake County Schools central offices staff. There is some dispute whether Ben Franklin or Ben Disraeli said, there are lies, damn lies and statistics. Selective data put forth by bond advocates proves their point. Messrs Kane and Odom quote from the school Facilities Utilization report that the Wake school system is at 103.2 percent of long-range capacity, and 16.9 percent of students and teachers operate out of modular classrooms. Let us examine this statement. Firstly, the 16.9% in modular classrooms refers to those assigned to the existing, bought and paid for, 1,136 modular classrooms. But, the 103.2 percent capacity eliminate 624 of those very same existing modular classrooms and the 15,251 student seats the have, as if they just did not exist. According to WCPSS, they are not part of the so- called optimum plan. So, it is plain that eliminating 55% of the existing modular units from the calculation reduces the number of students in them by roughly the same amount. You simply cannot have it both ways. In the 103.2% of capacity number quoted, school administrators also do not include 1,670 classrooms (approximately 40,000 seats) that are used for support, pull outs, special education, art, etc. Advocates claim bond opponents want to use ALL of these for regular classrooms. Not true. But do they really need 20% of the space 10 classrooms per school for these activities? Advocates also claim we would rather shift students around the county to where there is capacity. We could infer from this that schools built with the last bond program were put in the wrong places causing the need to bus more students for greater distances. And these are the same people we are going to let plan the new building program. They also imply we have extra capacity, just in the wrong places. Another issue is the planning credibility of Wake Schools staff. In 2005, staff forecast enrollment growth from 2007 to 2012 would be 21,047. The following year, when they were anxious to get the 2006 bond passed, they raised the 2007 to 2012 forecast to 39,517. What really happened? Enrollment growth between 2007 and 2012 was 15,728. Once again, they will offer explanations the recession, slower building etc.! However, they ignore even the first two years of their forecast, before the recession hit, were significantly lower than forecast. In March, school staff presented their opening gambit, a must-have plan to the County Commission. It called for spending $2.2 BILLION and 32 new schools built by 2018. It also included a renovation of Fuquay Varina High School at a cost of $82 million. The $82 million was later revised down to $63 million due to an error in the costing program. Since the March plan was not well received, staff presented some alternatives to the commission at the April meeting. The primary scenario called for spending $2.3 billion for 32 new schools and various upgrades. The other three scenarios offered were for less money and fewer schools. These were throw-away options as none of the three provided enough capacity to meet their enrollment forecast. The May offering to the commission was a new musthave list of 16 new schools and various upgrades for $939.9 million. Surprisingly, the Fuquay Varina High School renovation was not included in this plan. The County Commission decided to present the $810 bond requirement for this plan to the voters. There are other inconsistent statements made by bond advocates, but we will get to our final point. The 2013 CIP (Capital Investment Program) calls for spending of $993 million. The proposed bond is for $810 million. We infer from this that Wake County Schools have $183 million available without the bond. This is enough to do all the school renovations planned ($169 million) and put a dent in the technology upgrades ($65 million). The Wake County school board should do a better job of managing staff to achieve their academic goals and challenging their plans, rather than accepting whatever the central office staff tells them. Advocates of the 2013 School Bond really should do their homework.
This is a slightly longer version of a column submitted to the N&O. They only allow a maximum of 750 words.