On Thursday, Sept. 10, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners gave notice that – one week later, on Thursday, Sept. 17 – the board will hold a public hearing on $25 million in “education revenue bonds” for Piedmont Classical High School – a charter school at 4100 Yanceyville Road.
The hearing will be held at a meeting in the Old Guilford County Court House at 301 W. Market St. in downtown Greensboro.
These are a completely different animal than the $300 million in county school bonds on which area voters will weigh in on the November ballot. For one thing, the $25 million debt would be solely an obligation of Piedmont Classical – not of the county or the taxpayers.
However, state law requires that, before bonds of this nature are offered to investors, a public hearing on the matter must be held and the bond offering must be signed off on by the Board of Commissioners.
The proceeds from the sale will constitute a loan to Piedmont Classical Real Estate Properties, LLC – a North Carolina limited liability company handling the bond financing for the school. The money will be used by Piedmont Classical High School to purchase land and construct or buy facilities.
The bonds, if approved by the Board of Commissioners as expected, will be special limited obligations that are “payable solely from funds paid by the Borrower to the Authority and shall be secured by collateral furnished or caused to be furnished by the Borrower. The Bonds will not constitute an indebtedness, general obligation, or liability of the County, the State of North Carolina, or any county, municipal corporation or political subdivision thereof.”
People who wish to take part in the hearing can register to speak at the meeting in person, send in their comments in writing, or participate virtually. Written comments should be sent to Clerk of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners, 301 W. Market Street, Greensboro, North Carolina 27401, or emailed to mailto:publiccomments@guilfordcountync.gov.
Additional information about remote access to the meeting can be found on Guilford County’s web page at https://www.guilfordcountync.gov/our-county/board-of-commissioners.
This is a great opportunity for making significant progress in educating our youth. Charter schools across the country have been extremely successful and are sought by parents as an alternative to standard public education. Contrary to some critics, the schools do not encourage “white flight” from the public schools as they tend to have a diverse student population. They have better attendance, higher test scores and fewer discipline problems because of the basic principles on which they are based and operate. They will never replace all public schools, but they are making positive improvements across the country. Many professionals with school age children that would like to relocate to this area look at our public schools and decide this is not an acceptable location for them. Would it be great to have a set of charter schools that could be shown to these people as a positive reason to relocate to the area? I hope that the County Commissioners vote positively for this bond project.
And a major plus for the charter school movement is they are not under the control of the teachers union and the board of education.