Orange County voters approved a bond on November 5 that grants $300 million to renovate and build schools in both the Orange County and Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools (CHCCS) systems.
The initial proposal of the bond stated that $174.7 million would be used in the CHCCS school system to replace Frank Porter Graham Elementary, Carrboro Elementary and Estes Hills Elementary with new buildings, while also attending to the maintenance needs of the other district schools.
A third-party company was hired to examine the way money is spent and determine where the inefficiencies are and how to save money in the school district. With enrollment reduced by 1,000 children throughout the school system, Leah Milks, the co-president of the McDougal Elementary School PTA, said the bond will direct funding to an important area.
“We are losing money regularly because we are running schools under capacity, specifically elementary schools,” Milks said.
One of the stated purposes of the bond is to reduce maintenance costs that are higher in older facilities. “Those same issues are going to happen to the new schools in a few years if we don’t reprioritize how we spend our funds on maintenance,” math teacher Keith Cooper said.
Taxpayers can expect a $34.10 increase in annual taxes per $100,000 of assessed value starting in 2025 to compensate for the money going into the bond. The increase in taxes is one reason why some voters opposed the bond; some voters also stated they were unsure how the district would use the funds.
“[District officials] changed what they say they’re going to use [bond money] for several times,” Cooper said.
The original outline contained plans to move students out of McDougal Elementary School and McDougal Middle School and transport dual language students to those facilities and build a new building for the original McDougal students. This plan upset families within the walking and biking zone for McDougal, as it would force them to rely on a bus to transport children to school.
“McDougal is the largest walk zone in the city, so they were basically 100% eliminating that,” Milks said.
Chapel Hill High School students eligible to vote largely supported the bond proposal.
“Education is the foundation of our country’s future, and it starts with ensuring that schools have the proper resources they need to teach youth,” senior Sebastian Clapham said. Clapham supported the bond as he believes that the learning environment impacts students profoundly, especially in elementary school.
Senior Lilly Burton explained how her experience in a district led program influenced her vote for the bond. “I was positively impacted by a program called LEAP, and I think that dual language kids would specifically benefit from these renovations,” she said.
Taxpayers will start paying for the bond next year, and renovations will follow soon after.
