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Jun 1, 2006
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Jun 1, 2006
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| Online Phonebook | Sandhills Guide | Business News | National News |
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BY Caroline Kornegay: Staff Writer The Moore County Board of Education is asking the county commissioners for help in relieving crowding in the three high schools.
The move came after the commissioners heard from a consultant that it could take as much as a 9.9-cent property tax increase by 2008 to 2011 to fund fully the school board's 10-year, $145 million facilities plan that calls for building a new high school, three elementary schools and two middle schools. In a unanimous decision, the Board of Education approved a recommendation from the Facilities Committee to "initiate financing options with the county commissioners to address immediate facilities needs at the high schools." Bruce Cunningham, chairman of the committee, said board members wanted to start on the Facilities Master Plan as soon as possible. "The overcrowding situation, particularly at Pinecrest, was one of our top priorities in the Facilities Plan," Cunningham said. "The proposal is that the high school capital issues be addressed by modular buildings which could be put in place fairly quickly." He added that he would like to identify funding before the 2006-07 school year starts. "The whole process would be about $1.2 million," he said. That would fund modular classrooms at Pinecrest first, then Union Pines, and later provide modular teaching space at North Moore. Superintendent Susan Purser will begin working with the county to find the money to purchase the modular units. "My first step is to talk with (interim county manager) David Cotton, and we'll be setting that up just as fast as we can get a meeting together," she said. She said she wants to have a "cooperative discussion" with county officials. "I saw their meeting Monday as a very positive statement that the county is looking at how it can fund the needs of schools," Purser said. Purser said she wants to understand the report presented to the commissioners about funding school buildings, as well as other county needs. She said there are a lot of variables in coming up with the funding for the school system's building needs. "We don't know the answers, that's why it's important to go ahead and have this conversation," Purser said. Cotton recommended full funding for the Board of Education as well as Sandhills Community College next year. The budget does not include funding for the building plan. "I think both the schools and the community college articulated their needs well both in their presentation (to the commissioners) and in writing," Purser said. Finding the extra revenues requested this year of about $1.5 million could be a challenge for next year, Cotton said. Whether or not the county is entirely favorable, Cunningham wants to proceed with the facilities plan as quickly as possible. "There's no time like the present," he said.
Caroline Kornegay can be reached at 693-2484 or by e-mail at ckornegay@thepilot.com. |
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