$1.7 billion.
That’s the amount that school officials would like to see on Guilford County’s ballot in 2022.
On Thursday, Nov. 4, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to start the process necessary for a school bond of up to $1.7 billion to be put on the ballot. That’s nearly three times the amount of the massive school bond referendums approved by county voters in 2008, and it comes on the heels of a $300 million school bond referendum approved in the 2020 general election.
The motion approved by the commissioners was a “Notice of Intention” for Guilford County general obligation bonds for use to conduct school repairs and construction.
“The Guilford County Board of Commissioners has actively engaged with the Guilford County Schools Board of Education in assessing the needs of public school facilities within Guilford County,” the motion states. “The Board of Commissioners are authorizing county administration to begin the process of setting a voter referendum to authorize the issuance of General Obligation bonds in the amount up to $1.7 billion for the acquisition, construction, improvement, equipping and expansion of school facilities.”
The motion also authorizes county staff to publish the county’s Notice of Intention to apply to the Local Government Commission. The “LGC,” as it is usually called, is a state government financial oversight commission that must clear the bond proposal by considering several factors – the most important being whether or not Guilford County will be able to pay the money back if it borrows it.
The Guilford County Republican-majority Board of Commissioners were blasted by school supporters in 2020 because that board “only” approved $300 million in school bond money for the county’s voters to consider.
Guilford County Commissioner Justin Conrad said at the Nov. 4 meeting, as well as after it, that there are a couple of very important things to keep in mind regarding this new move. One is that the $1.7 billion is the upper limit – not the amount that will likely show up on the ballot.
Conrad said he doesn’t want to see a bond that size on the ballot.
He also said he does not believe that the bond referendum will end up being that amount.
When the commissioners approved a $300 million referendum for the ballot at a time in 2020 when the economy was falling apart, and no one knew what the COVID-19 pandemic would bring, Conrad and other county commissioners pledged at that time that the board would come back with the intention to raise more money for the schools in the future.
In 2020, numerous county commissioners said over and over again that the school board would have access to $300 million it could start spending – and the commissioners would come back later and put a larger school bond on the ballot once there was a clear picture of the county’s economic circumstances.
That’s now happening.
“This was the plan all along,” Conrad said, reflecting the comments that he and fellow commissioners made in 2020.
LOL…exactly what one would expect considering that democrats currently control county and city.
In articles published a few weeks ago you mentioned how Greensboro was not growing and had an unhealthy business climate. Since people seem to be content with current councils, better figure out how all this will be paid for. Betting it will burn your pockets with nice new taxes. At least Greensboro will be first in something.
Why was the amount not decreased by the 300 million bond already passed and the 300 million the schools got for the pandemic? As far as the schools are concerned, no amount of money is ever enough.
Why, why, why is the school system always wanting more, more, more. The NC Education Lottery was always sold on the fact those millions, now billions, would go for nothing but education. And, lower our taxes to boot. Has the money been diverted by lying, sleazy, politicians? Or is it just fiscal incompetence?
Yeah.
As long as the current superintendent and the slate of people on the school board stays in place, I would NEVER vote for this package. The public school system is broken beyond repair. We have “graduates” that cannot write a complete sentence, perform simple mathematics without the aid of a calculator and are not qualified to perform the simplest of jobs. Why would we, as taxpayers, continue to fund such a failed system.
I have voted in favor of every past school bond. I will NOT vote for this one. Our public schools are well funded, but still total crap. The superintendent is a complete moron. It’s time to support school choice. Giving the schools more money will only fund their never ending incompetence. Being funded they are still happy to waste money and refuse to genuinely educated the children of Guilford County. Let’s see how they spend the whopping $300million, plus millions for Covid they already got and are currently wasting on useless things like “contact tracers.” No more. Hard pass.
Just plain NO.
The US has the most costly education system in the Western world, and the most incompetent.
They don’t need more money.