Martin advises Wake on schools
Friday, October 27th, 2006
By Chris Fitzsimon
The former governor urges leaders to focus on top priorities, spend wisely, listen to critics
Matthew Eisley, Staff Writer
Voters upset about schools and fed up with the county board of education sent a resounding rebuke, voting no on school bonds.
Opponents declared victory, but schools only got more crowded.
Bond supporters were aghast — and out of ideas.
And then a bond-rating agency threatened to flag the county, which could raise its cost of borrowing for anything.
That was Charlotte and Mecklenburg County a year ago, when local voters rejected a $427 million public school bond issue.
Less than two weeks before a Wake County vote on a bond package more than double that size, bond supporters got a lesson Thursday from the man Mecklenburg tapped to steer its school construction back on track: Republican former Gov. Jim Martin.
His message: Responsible communities don’t shirk their responsibilities. You have to build and renovate schools or else people’s lives are disrupted and businesses go elsewhere. But focus on the highest priorities, spend wisely and listen to critics.
"You’ve got to move forward," Martin said at a Raleigh forum on paying for public schools. "You can’t handicap a county by not providing the schools it needs. You get more overcrowding, more year-round schools, more unhappiness about growth and more dissatisfaction with the school system." (more…)
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