School board agrees to give '07 bond referendum a look

RALEIGH -- Wake County voters might get a chance to decide whether they're willing to pay higher property taxes to avoid sending students to mandatory year-round schools.

The school board voted 5-4 Thursday to study its future building options if a school bond referendum were to succeed this fall. The study would include the costs of eventually eliminating mandatory year-round schools.

To reduce construction costs, Wake is converting 22 schools to a year-round calendar this summer and opening most new schools with staggered year-round schedules. Year-round schools can hold more students than traditional ones.

"Last Saturday, when the county commissioners recommended a new bond referendum in 2007, they provided us an opportunity to put the mandatory year-round question to a vote," said Patti Head, chairwoman of the school board. "Is the community willing to provide the additional funds needed to return to our voluntary year-round model in the future?"

Head said administrators should report on future building options this month.

Many families scheduled to attend mandatory year-round schools beginning this summer have protested. Most oppose the way year-round schools eliminate long summer vacations in favor of shorter breaks throughout the year.

Last month, after Wake commissioners tried to block the year-round conversions, the school board voted to continue with them.

On Saturday, the commissioners shocked school leaders by suggesting a bond issue this fall to speed up construction of schools to handle growth.

Initially, several school board members said it would be a bad idea to hold a bond election so soon after voters approved a $970 million referendum in November. But on Thursday, a majority said they're willing to entertain the idea.

"It's a positive step," said Tony Gurley, chairman of the board of commissioners. "It opens the door for discussion and hopefully a compromise between the two boards."

But if the board goes ahead with the referendum, it would mean asking voters for a lot more money. Administrators have estimated that building year-round elementary schools instead of traditional-calendar ones would save more than $1 billion in construction costs over the next 25 years.

Head said the county asked voters to approve $970 million in bonds in November because the school board and commissioners thought a larger bond proposal with a higher tax increase would be defeated.

School board members said Thursday a 2007 bond issue wouldn't immediately eliminate the need to convert schools. The earliest schools could be built from a 2007 bond vote would probably be 2010. At that point, it might be possible to convert schools back to a traditional calendar.

That explanation didn't satisfy Dawn Graff of Wake C.A.R.E.S., a parents' group that opposes the conversions. "The board is bound and determined to do it [conversion] no matter what the commissioners say and what the parents want," she said.

The board also voted to ask the commissioners to provide $7.3 million to pay for the conversions and mobile classrooms.

The board also agreed to reverse its long-standing opposition to lobbying the General Assembly to lift the cap on charter schools.