Before going into closed session, the Guilford County Board of Education still hadn’t pinned down a figure for a possible bond referendum. After hearing the project list, discussion focused on what they could legitimately ask for versus what they can get away with.
Garth Hebert worried me when he said that he wasn’t “embarrassed to go for $600 million if we know we have to have seats for those students.”
But Hebert had an interesting comment when the discussion turned to whether or not the system is simply spending too much money to build new schools. WSFC’s ability to build cheaper schools was addressed, and it was determined that costs per square foot in Guilford County were equal to those in Forsyth County. So they must be building smaller schools in Winston-Salem.
Hebert said many of his clients were contractors, and they didn’t want to get into business with the school system because it was too risky. As a result, the system is forced pay premium construction prices due to the lack of competition, he concluded.
Keep in mind that GCS is still planning to tighten its MWBE policy, which more than likely will drive more contractors away and further limit competition.
