Bill affecting school building ownership 'resting' for now

Broad disagreement among House Republicans has stalled a bill that would allow counties to take over responsibility for building and maintaining schools.

Posted 6:22 p.m. Jul 16, 2013 — Updated 1:51 p.m. Jul 17, 2013

Mark Binker

RALEIGH, N.C. — A bill that would allow Wake County and several other local boards of county commissioners to take over responsibility for building and maintaining schools has hit a roadblock in the House.

The measure, rejected by another committee last week, had been heading to the House Rules Committee for another look. But the measure did not come up at a hearing Tuesday, and Chairman Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, said he was unsure if it would come up again this summer.

"A significant number of Republicans are against it," Moore said. "I think that's an issue that will have to be worked out in (the Republican House) caucus."

With Republicans divided and the chamber's Democrats allied against it, the bill has little chance of passing the full House, despite having already cleared the Senate.

The measure would have allowed county governments to take control of school buildings away from local school boards. Wake County schools had opposed the measure, while Republican members of the county Board of Commissioners had pressed for the bill.

Moore said the bill won't come up this week, and it's possible that it would "rest comfortably" in his committee until next year's short session.

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