County approves funding for schools
By Steve Herring
Published in News on June 8, 2016 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/STEVE HERRING
Wayne County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Michael Dunsmore listens as Wayne County commissioners discuss a school facilities plan. While Commissioners Ray Mayo and Wayne Aycock voiced concerns, the $28.2 million plan was unanimously approved.
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News-Argus/STEVE HERRING
Wayne County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Michael Dunsmore, left, and Wayne County Commissioner Ray Mayo talk during a break in the commissioners' Tuesday morning session and just before the board approved the school board's facility plan.
Wayne County commissioners got a round of applause from Southern Wayne High School supporters Tuesday morning when they gave the go-ahead to a school facilities plan that includes a new gym and classrooms at that school.
But while approval of the $28.2 million plan was unanimous, two board members expressed some reservations.
Commissioner Wayne Aycock said he did not like the process by how the decisions had been reached.
For Commissioner Ray Mayo, the issue is what else might be waiting in the wings similar to how concerns over Meadow Lane Elementary School caught the county flatfooted.
But Chairman Joe Daughtery, who helped broker the deal, said the plan has several benefits and meets concerns commissioners have had for years about better use of classroom space.
Commissioners also have said they wanted to see changes in school district lines so that facilities can be better used. The plan does that, he said.
Daughtery thanked the board for allowing him and County Manager George Wood to work with school board Chairman Chris West and Wayne County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Michael Dunsmore, who was in the audience, but did not speak.
"The board of commissioners has said we wanted to use the state funds earmarked for education facility construction first and then make up the difference with county funds," Daughtery said. "This does that. The board of commissioners has said we want better maintenance on the existing schools, and we have discussed that at great lengths because we know there are urgent needs there.
"We all realize we have major problems at our schools caused by the lack of attention to the maintenance of our facilities."
Dunsmore has a plan to address those maintenance issues, Daughtery said.
The plan also addresses issues raised by Seymour Johnson Air Force Base personnel concerning a lack of advanced class offerings as well as the conditions and lack of security at schools, particularly Meadow Lane Elementary School, he said.
"This plan is financially feasible," Daughtery said. "It does not require a tax increase."
The plan calls for a new $21.8 million Meadow Lane Elementary School that would be built on the existing campus on East Ash Street. It includes a wing to house a new Edgewood Community Developmental School.
It would fund $4.6 million for 22 additional classrooms at Fremont STARS Elementary School; $3.2 million for a new gym and six classrooms at Southern Wayne High School; and $400,000 to add air conditioning at the Rosewood Middle School gym.
The Southern Wayne gym would be from a plan previously submitted to the school board by the school's Boosters Club.
Of the total cost, $23.6 million would need to be financed over 20 years at 3.5 percent annual interest.
The $4.6 million addition at Fremont STARS could be paid for from existing school board sales tax funds on hand.
An annual debt service payment of $1,660,507 will be required to pay for the projects and it will be done without a tax increase, Wood said.
Commissioner Bill Pate made the motion to approve the five-year plan, saying he knew not everyone would agree to all parts of the plan.
"But overall this plan touches every part of this county, and it moves us forward" Pate said. "It does it without an increase in property tax, no impact on our financial position."
Aycock said that up until Monday night he had not been in agreement with the proposal.
"This proposal is not the original proposal that was presented to us," Aycock said. "I thought long and hard on it. I lost sleep over it. I feel like that some of the decisions were made previous to today, we were kind of meddling into the school board's business.
"The original proposal I felt like that is what the school board asked for, and then when it got to us there were some things changed around and added, and I don't want anybody to think for one minute that I am questioning the need for all of this. The need is here. In fact, there is more need than what is in this proposal. But I just don't like the way it was handled."
Aycock said he believes the board should have acted on the first proposal and then looked at it further.
"Do I agree with it? No," he said. "But I will vote for because I feel like in my heart this will be bettering children and students and future leaders all over Wayne County."
Mayo said he supported the plan, but urged caution as well.
"No. 1, we have been shown by our county manager how we can finance these projects, but keep in mind commissioners that Meadow Lane came out of the woodwork for us," he said. "My concern is not that we can't pay for it and make the 20-year payments.
"But how many other things are we going to have over the next four years that we are sitting on this board that are going to come out that we don't know about? So I am concerned about the amount of money that we are spending, how we are spending down our fund balance."
Mayo said there are schools in Wayne County in much worse shape structurally than Meadow Lane.
It has been suggested that Meadow Lane cannot be remodeled or refurbished and brought up to base standards, he said.
The school board will make the decision, Mayo said. But he added that no study has been done to see if the school could be renovated, thereby saving millions of dollars.
During the public comments portion of Tuesday's meeting Goldsboro Mayor Chuck Allen said that a lot of positive things are going on in the county and there is a lot of momentum.
"One of the areas that I do believe that we are weak on, and I think we are all going to have to agree, is our school system," he said. "I think we all have to agree that our school system has been underfunded for many, many years -- nothing to do probably with anybody here. It is what it is.
"I think we have not adequately invested in our technology. We have not adequately invested in our facilities, and probably just in general the whole school system."
Allen reminded the board that 23 percent of Wayne County lives in poverty -- 8 percent above the national average.
"Fifty percent of our kids in third grade don't read or write at grade level," he said. "Those are pretty bad numbers. So as a community if we are ever going to move this needle positive, education is the only way we are going to be able to do it.
"Some of you might not like some of the items in the plan, but I ask each of you as you do your vote that you consider the overall plan and what it does for our community and what it does to move our school system forward."
Allen said he believes momentum and messaging are hugely important, and that everybody wants to be part of a winning team.
"We have the winning team here in Wayne County and in Goldsboro," he said. "I think this is the first phase of many, many phases that we are going to have to come if we are going to make this education system the system that we all want it to be.