Year-round plan isn't a done deal, some say

Schools dig for money, parents dig in heels

Wake County's student reassignment plan is history now, but the fight over year-round conversion is far from over.

Parents, who have had the ear of some county commissioners in the past, are still lobbying hard to block the conversion of 22 schools to a year-round schedule in July, including the possibility of a court battle before the argument is resolved.

"I don't see the schools starting on a year-round schedule in July," said Dawn Graff, head of WakeCARES, a parent group fighting the conversions. "I don't see it as a done deal yet."

The fight over mandatory year-round calendars has been one of the most contentious issues in Wake County schools in recent years.

Year-round schools can handle more students than traditional schools by putting the buildings in constant use with four staggered schedules, or tracks. School officials say this would help them handle growth by holding more than 3,500 additional students at the schools.

But many parents object to the possibility of having children on different schedules and the loss of longer summer vacations. The group Stop Mandatory Year-Round released a study this week suggesting the school district can get the seats it needs without converting schools.

Parents also have persuaded commissioners to delay payment of $4.7 million for the conversions.

Tony Gurley, chairman of the board of commissioners, said the board might release the money next month if it thinks families opposed to year-round schedules have a real chance to attend a different school on a traditional schedule. But Patti Head, chairwoman of the school board, said district leaders can't wait that long to start the process.

The school board will meet Tuesday to decide how to find the money to replace the $4.7 million held by commissioners. It will be used to purchase equipment and place mobile classrooms at the converted schools.

Head said she still hopes commissioners will release the money, but she said a likely alternative is to tap into the district's reserve fund, which is set aside for emergencies. The fund has $22.2 million.

But is it legal?

Head is sure that approach is legal, but others are not as certain.

Gregory S. Allison, a lecturer in public finance and government at UNC-Chapel Hill's Institute of Government, said state law seems to indicate school boards can't use operating money to pay for capital costs without approval from county commissioners.

County Attorney Mike Ferrell said the law is not clear on how to resolve a conflict between commissioners and the school board over spending, which is one reason a lawsuit might be needed.

If the school board uses reserve funds, Graff said she hopes commissioners would sue to block the use of the money. She also said her group would take action if necessary.

"As a group, we'd have to consider legal action," Graff said.

But for now, Gurley downplayed the possibility of a lawsuit.

"It would be a waste of taxpayer money to get into a lawsuit," Gurley said. "I don't think anybody on the board would be willing to do that."

Head also said a lawsuit would be a last resort, although the school board has asked its attorney to study the possibility as a way to get the $4.7 million.

A substitute plan

Dave Duncan, co-founder of Stop Mandatory Year-Round, said his parent group has established the grounds for a lawsuit.

The group released a study this week that said ample seats would be available this fall without conversions if all elementary schools in the county returned to whatever their highest enrollment was within the past four years. It also includes the seats from new schools scheduled to open this fall.

For instance, Fox Road Elementary in North Raleigh, which enrolled 800 students this year, would return to its 2003 high of 1,055 students. The plan would require returning trailers to campuses, larger classrooms in some schools and significant reassignments.

"It's not unfair to expect a school to accommodate what it accommodated before," Duncan said. "It's not fair to say we want to have less crowded schools by unfairly burdening one part of the county."

But school board member Carol Parker said increasing crowding would hurt students.

"I wouldn't want to force any school to take their maximum pain," Parker said.

(Staff writer Ryan Teague Beckwith and news researcher Paulette Stiles contributed to this report.)