Hopefully. Hoggard breaks the news that Guilford County Commissioner Skip Alston has a blog. This should be very interesting, providing that Alston posts regularly.
Alston’s first post dealt with the Eastern High School situation:
MY POSITION IS THAT IF THE SCHOOL BOARD SEES THE EASTERN HIGH SCHOOL PROJECT AS BEING AN EMERGENCY PRIORITY, THEY CAN REVISE THEIR CURRENT BOND PROJECTS AND TAKE OUT 53 MILLION DOLLARS TO REBUILD EASTERN HIGH SCHOOL. THE PROJECTS THAT WILL BE DELAYED CAN BE INCLUDED IN THE BOND PROJECT THAT THE CITIZENS WILL BE VOTING ON IN NOVEMBER OF THIS YEAR. THIS ITEM CAN BE SEPARATE FROM THE LARGER BOND REQUEST OF 450 MILLION AND CAN BE A STAND ALONG BOND TO REIMBURSE THE BOND FUNDS FOR THE REBUILDING OF EASTERN HIGH SCHOOL. THIS WAY THE VOTERS WILL HAVE A CHANCE TO SAY YES OR NO ON ADDITIONAL BOND FUNDS THAT WAS BROUGHT INTO PLAY BECAUSE OF THE FIRE.
But GCS says it only has $31 million left over from the 2003 bond, which obviously falls short of the estimated $60 million cost to rebuild Eastern, even with the initial insurance payment.
But that’s more than enough to build the new Jamestown Middle School, for which $28 million in additional funding is on the proposed November bond referendum. The way I see it, the stage is set for an old-fashioned local education political deal: County commissioners agree to pass COPs to rebuild Eastern if GCS agrees to use remaining bond money to build Jamestown Middle. That project gets pulled from the November bond, reducing the amount and perhaps appeasing skeptical taxpayers.
It’s a win-win-win, right? Except for the the fact that –gasp—politics will play a role in education policy.