THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 26, 1995 TAG: 9511280484
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: EDENTON LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines
A commission that includes the state's top two education officials and some of its most powerful legislators will come to town Wednesday seeking answers to North Carolina's school construction dilemma.
The 20-member School Capital Construction Study Commission has been traveling the state this fall to discuss construction needs and consider pressing issues on how to pay for schools fairly in communities of dramatically varying means.
A 1993 survey of North Carolina school districts turned up 10-year school-building needs totaling $5.6 billion. Although some legislators are not satisfied that the survey was accurate, the commission's leaders acknowledge construction problems are dire.
``Definitely what's emerging is that there's enormous needs,'' said Theresa Kostrzewa, staff assistant to House Majority Leader Leo Daughtry, a Smithfield, N.C., Republican and co-chair of the study commission.
Despite an awareness that growth in many counties is outpacing their ability to build classroom space or upgrade decaying buildings, the General Assembly this year did not act on several proposals to get Raleigh more involved in paying for local school construction.
Among the unsuccessful bills were a statewide bond issue and an initiative by state Rep. Bill Owens of the 1st District to let county voters add a penny to their sales tax to pay for school facilities.
Instead, the legislative study commission was formed to again calculate statewide construction needs and to develop a plan for the General Assembly to consider next spring.
Besides Daughtry, the commission numbers among its members the elected state superintendent of public instruction, the appointed chairman of the State Board of Education, the state treasurer, and the chairs of several key finance and education committees in the General Assembly.
After counties file their individual needs surveys with the state Dec. 15 and the commission concludes its nine-stop tour, an interim commission report is due Jan. 15. The final report will be due April 15, Kostrzewa said, and could be acted on in the 1996 short session.
``Because of who's on it,'' Kostrzewa said of the commission, ``it will carry a lot of weight.''
The commission's visit to the Edenton area Wednesday will begin with a tour of White Oak Elementary School in Tyner. Commission members will later have dinner with area county commissioners and school board members, and then hold a public hearing in the John A. Holmes High School auditorium at 7 p.m.
``They're really trying to get people's local needs, people's ideas,'' said Elizabeth City-Pasquotank Schools Superintendent Joe Peel, one of only a few educators serving on the commission. ``They put people on the spot in different places.''
The commission is asking not just what people in different localities need, Peel said, but what they're willing to give up.
The main issues at the hearings have involved the disparity of wealth among counties, the question of finding a quick-fix or long-term construction plan, and the role the state should play in covering local systems' year-to-year expenses.
``They're looking at everything. They really are,'' Peel said. ``Getting a lot of information about the issue of equity and wealth.''
People who show up for the hearings have expressed two different attitudes, Kostrzewa said: Some feel that the state should provide for all their needs, and others have shown a willingness to accept a local burden for school facilities.
One district complained about its serious needs and then revealed that its tax rate was 45 cents per $100 - 27 cents lower than Pasquotank County's, officials said.
``These folks jumped on that and wore 'em out,'' Peel told Pasquotank commissioners last week. ``These folks will ask you questions.''
Pasquotank has just committed more than $22 million to school construction over the next two years, and Currituck County has poured millions into a new high school - facts that local officials hope the state commission takes into account when deciding who has made an effort. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
ON THE SCHEDULE
The commission's visit to the Edenton area Wednesday will begin
with a tour of White Oak Elementary School in Tyner.
Commission members will later have dinner with area county
commissioners and school board members, and then hold a public
hearing in the John A. Holmes High School auditorium at 7 p.m.
by CNB