THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, November 10, 1995 TAG: 9511100600
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CURRITUCK LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
Currituck County will receive $5.2 million in state funds for badly needed school construction projects, officials announced Thursday.
``We're ecstatic,'' said Bill Dobney, the school system's assistant superintendent.
The money will be used to renovate Central Elementary School in Barco, buy land for a new Moyock elementary school and partially pay for that school's construction, schools officials said Thursday.
Currituck will not have to reimburse the states.
The county's commissioners and School Board plan to meet Wednesday, Nov. 15, to discuss plans.
``I have to say, in all fairness, it could not come at a more opportune time. We are in dire need of new schools,'' said Ernie Bowden, chairman of the Currituck County Board of Commissioners.
Currituck officials have been grappling for several years with school overcrowding caused by rapid residential growth, particularly in the Moyock area.
Many of the system's 2,900 students are taught in 40 trailers scattered throughout five of six campuses. ``Classrooms are more conducive to learning than a trailer,'' Dobney said.
A $16 million bond referendum approved two years ago was intended to help pay for several school construction projects, including a new high school, the Central renovations and a new school in Jarvisburg.
But the $16 million covered only a high school in Barco, currently under construction and costing millions more than expected.
Bowden acknowledged Thursday that favoring a new Moyock school over one in Jarvisburg already endorsed by voters may upset some Lower Currituck residents.
``Putting myself in their place, I would be somewhat perturbed,'' he said, adding that public input would be taken before final decisions are made.
Currituck had been expecting Thursday's announcement for a long time. Of the state's 119 school districts, the system ranked 45th on a 1987 list of those with critical facility needs and a low ability to pay.
This was to be Currituck's year to receive funds. But some members of the Commission on School Facility Needs, which awards the state grants, apparently questioned Currituck's inability to pay for school capital projects during its September deliberations.
Currituck Superintendent W.R. ``Ronnie'' Capps and County Manager Bill Richardson went to Raleigh this week to help convince committee members to give them the money.
In a news release, both men praised area leaders for their support, particularly State Senate Leader Marc Basnight, D-Dare.
Basnight personally contacted Lt. Gov. Dennis Wicker, House Speaker Harold Brubaker and several commission members to garner their support for Currituck schools, a Basnight spokeswoman said Thursday.
``We felt that it would be incredibly unfair to Currituck if all of a sudden the game plan was changed literally at the 11th hour, and they didn't get their money that had been scheduled for them,'' said Norma Ware, legal counsel to Basnight.
Ware said the growth in Currituck has both helped and hurt the largely rural county of 15,000 permanent residents.
``They've had tremendous growth, which is good. But the growth is coming at a rate that they don't have the ability to meet. And that's why we felt so strongly about them receiving the small schools funding and the school facility needs money,'' she said.
Earlier this year, Basnight was credited with helping Currituck keep more than $500,000 in small schools supplemental funding by expanding eligibility criteria.
State Rep. Bill Owens, D-Pasquotank, and Elizabeth City-Pasquotank County School Board member Matt Wood, who serves on the commission, also were involved in helping Currituck get the $5.2 million, Currituck officials said.
The School Facilities Finance Act of 1987 established a program to administer state funds to schools with critical building needs. Grants have ranged from $2 million to $10 million annually.
Forty-eight school districts have collectively received about $194.3 million in critical-needs funding since the program, financed through a portion of a 1 percent corporate income tax, was established.
Among northeastern districts receiving such funds are Bertie, Hertford, Perquimans, Gates, Camden and Chowan counties. Most counties have received around $2 million each - less than half the amount awarded Thursday to Currituck. by CNB