Guilford County is just days away from plunging the county into a new level of debt thanks to the sale of the remaining portion of the $300 million in school bonds approved by voters in a November 2020 referendum.
The county has already sold $120 million from that referendum.
So far, Guilford County has yet to tap into the $1.7 billion in school bonds that county voters approved in 2022.
The money raised will be used for the design and construction of new schools as well as for the repairs of existing schools.
Claxton Elementary is expected to open in August 2024. Foust Elementary, Peck K-8, Kiser Middle and Brooks Global Studies will follow closely behind,
Other school projects using the voter approved bond money will be the Visual and Performing Arts School, and the new Katherine G. Johnson K-8 School.
The Visual and Performing Arts School is in the first stages of construction. Guilford County Schools officials hope that school will open in August of 2025.
The Katherine G. Johnson K-8 School is in the design phase now that the school system has completed the land purchase for that school.
In the spring of 2022, voters also approved an additional $1.7 billion school bond referendum in bonds for school construction and repair across the county.
Guilford County officials plan to sell bonds from that referendum using three separate issues over several years – starting next year, guided by the school system’s expected cash flow needs.
One of the good things for county taxpayers is that the county was awarded a perfect credit rating by all three major rating agencies, which will mean the county should get one of the lowest rates for debt payback. However, one negative is that interest rates are much higher now than they were then in 2020 and 2022 when the bonds were approved by a majority of county voters.
I didn’t vote for these bonds but I’m sure my taxes will increase in a nano second once any issues pop up.
Why do we still need all these School bonds? I remember when the lottery was being sold to everyone here that it was determined that the schools would get so much money from the sale of the tickets. Where is all that money going because the taxes keep going up and no mention of where all the lottery money is going.
The only district that voted against the bonds was Purdue’s district, but the final tally was very close with about 49% approval. Alston’s district’s approval was about 77%. The districts with overwhelming approval along with Alston’s district were Foster (71%), Cook (62%), and Jones (71%), all inner city districts. These percentages are (+ or -.) I speculate that these results are the product of “get out the vote, ” and not a true understanding by the electorate of how bonds work, what the money will be used for, or the fact that more money spent on schools will not guarantee a quality education. Bonds are no more than borrowed money that is tax-free income to the lender(s.) The unanswered question is why Guilford County property taxes, money from the lottery, and contributions from the NC state legislature is not enough to fund the schools. There needs to be a serious audit of expenses vs expenditures of Guilford County schools. Repayment obligation of the bonds (borrowed money) may cause Guilford County to lose their stellar credit rating.