Tag: Wake Citizens for Quality Education

Thank you for supporting Wake Citizens for Quality Education in fighting to reform the Wake County Public School System. We all believe that goal is BETTER SCHOOLS & MORE CHOICES!

Voting NO on November 7th will send the message that taxpayers and parents are demanding that the School Board and bureaucracy start listening and reform. On November 8th we can start building a better school system.

To support Wake Citizens for Quality Education with a small contribution:

Wake Citizens for Quality Education 225 Hillsborough Street, Suite 190 Raleigh, NC 27603 919-839-1011 ext 15

The American Dream, home ownership in Wake County, is moving out of the reach of low and moderate income families. The monthly payments for property taxes mean fewer families qualify to buy homes.

The additional taxes generated to support this huge increase in debt mean the property taxes in Wake County continue an upward climb and will reach the levels outlined below.

What the additional Bond Tax will mean to a home owner. The below shows the total tax in two Wake cities with the bond tax added in. To find your monthly property tax, go to the bottom and multiply your home value by the tax rate and divide by 12: Raleigh: Average Home Price $222,467 Property taxes will cost $198.18/ Month $150,000 House - $133.62/month $200,000 House - $178.16/month $250,000 House - $222.71/month

Garner: Average Home Price $144,474 Property taxes will cost $145.58/ Month $150,000 House - $150.11/month $200,000 House - $200.15/month $250,000 House - $251.87/month

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Unincorporated Wake County: 0.681 (does not include special tax district tax) Angier: 0.01211 Apex 0.01081 Cary: 0.01101 Fuquay Varina: 0.01201 Holly Springs: 0.01211 Knightdale: 0.01181 Morrisville: 0.011487 Rolesville: 0.01166 Wake Forest: 0.01221 Wendell: 0.01221

How do we reform the system?

REPRESENTATION:
Change the Election of School Board members to county wide

• Members would have to consider the needs of all of Wake County and not small constituencies. Would insure that all parent/citizen input was considered and treated with respect
  
  

SYSTEMATIC REFORM:

Set up attendance zones within the Wake system and move towards several smaller community systems

• Forsyth County already has moved to attendance Zones
• Provide each region with a choice of different schools; Traditional, Year Round, Magnet and Charter.
• Reduce bussing and associated costs

• Parents would know the geographic limits of where their children would go and have a general idea of the progression of schools from K-12. This would help keep a sense of community and ownership in the schools which is disappearing
  
  Split WCPSS into several community based systems instead of the one large bureaucratic impersonal system we have today

• The state of NC would deal with these systems in a fairer manner. Today the average NC System is about 6,500 students

• Turn construction and maintenance of schools over to the county. eliminate building and maintenance bureaucrats and allow WCPSS to focus on core mission of education
• The County would still be responsible for the construction and maintenance of all schools but would be able to concentrate in the districts that had the most problem instead of spreading dollars all over the county in reaction to narrow election district pressures.
• Central functions not critical to the education function of a school system could be run by the county and shared to reduce duplication. These could include payroll, data handling, human resources etc. The core function of education and curriculum would be handled by each system and new community school board
  
  

HOW TO BUILD CAPACITY AND CHOICE:

• The School Board Publicly support eliminating the Cap on charter schools
  • They have consistently rejected doing this despite two County Advisory Committees explicitly endorsing this action
• Use Public/Private Partnerships to build schools without borrowing money
  • This form of construction saves borrowing costs and bonding
  • Possibility of quicker construction than bond financing as private developers already own land and have construction financing available
• Have developers build, or contribute to building, schools with seats set aside for their developments
  • Many developers have expressed a specific interest in the ability to work out this type of arrangement.
• Establish Virtual Schools like Cumberland County
• Turn construction and maintenance over to the county eliminating building and maintenance bureaucrats and focusing on core mission of educating children
  • Establish a one stop permitting process at the county level for school construction, it is in the local communities interest that schools be built in the quickest most efficient manner
• Concentrate on capacity:
  • No renovation except for Health and Safety that does not add net seats. This bond includes over $100 million in 5 elementary school renovations that add a total of 119 seats over current enrollment. Only a fraction of this $100 million is going towards Health and Safety concerns.
  • Reduce the size of campuses in Wake County which currently exceeds 26 acres per schools and continues to grow with new high schools sitting on over 70 acres of scarce land.
  • Build the most school practical for the money, currently the board spends the essentially the same amount of money for a 450 seat school and an 800 seat school
  • Scrap Mandatory Year Round construction as it is building more expensive schools that cost more to operate. This is creating a system that will require more taxes to operate and will not educate as many students in the long run
  • More utilization of existing empty commercial buildings in Wake County. If only in the short run this is a cost effective solution that can help add capacity in a more expeditious manner.
• For financing:
  • Immediately pass a smaller Bond with no tax increase (about $650 million) that is dedicated to the true need. increased capacity and preserving parental options in schooling
  • Immediately pass a smaller Bond with no tax increase (about $650 million) that is dedicated to the true need. increased capacity and preserving parental options in schooling
  • Continue using money from the 2003 Bond (not all spent) and money county has already set aside for capital spending on schools ($86 Million in cash)
  • Lobby the legislature to dedicate 100% of lottery proceeds to school construction. Lottery proceeds are an unstable revenue source and should not go to operating expenses to support ongoing programs, they should be dedicated to school construction
  • Sell off excess school acreage and have county dispose of excess property and dedicated revenue to school construction and increase tax base

Vote NO to wasteful spending & taxes and FOR Better Schools & More Choices!