Guilford County Schools co-interim superintendent Eric Becoats acknowledged that a motivation for UNCG professor Andrew Brod’s study of GCS economic impact is “to show the financial benefits to the county of previous school bonds.” In other words, voters should pass the $457 million in school bonds on the May 6 ballot to gain similar financial benefits.
Brod projected that MWDBE contracts from the 2008 bond would have an impact of $74.8 million and create 769 jobs. But GCS board members Walter Childs and Deena Hayes probably dispute those figures, considering the fact that, according to the Rhino, they’ve formed the anti-bond group The People’s Choice:
Hayes and Childs also said The People’s Choice opposes the bonds because the construction contracts from the 2003 and 2000 school bonds went disproportionately to white construction companies.
“We’re making sure that moneys that are allocated for schools are equitably distributed among all the contractors,” Childs said. “It needs to benefit the black community as well as the white community.”
Guilford County Schools has a program in place that is supposed to ensure that minority contractors get a share of construction contacts. Childs, however, said that many of the contracts arranged under that program go to businesses owned by white women.
We don’t know if those were fronting for large white companies,” Childs said.
E.C. Huey has more.
