Politically smart that is. While I sympathize with the cause, it’s not obvious to me that the already politically difficult tasks of establishing a new town in what is now south Charlotte or subdividing CMS is in any way helped by having the same group pushing both actions. Or put another way, linking the two may be good politics at the neighborhood level but I doubt it makes for good politics when you get to the General Assembly — it asks for too much while increasing the number of people who might object.
And make no mistake, breaking up school districts is not something that politically is in favor in North Carolina. The state has been pushing to reduce the number of school districts to one a county for many years. Subdividing school districts is also not being pushed as educational reform in this state. Now maybe it should be — you certainly could argue that a school district as big as Charlotte-Mecklenburg or Wake is simply too big to manage efficiently.
But that isn’t really the case that SMART is making — SMART’s argument against CMS is coming across more as “we aren’t getting our fair share.” That may well be, but naked greed is an ugly argument. And it’s not the sort of argument that is likely to win in Raleigh, regardless of who is in charge.
Bonus observation: I wonder how much removing the cap on charter schools will take the wind out of the sails of the push to break up CMS. It certainly doesn’t help SMART’s cause.
