Bill would allow county takeover of school property

By Mark Binker

Posted: March 7

Raleigh, N.C. — County governments across North Carolina would be able to take over school system property under a bill filed Thursday by Sen. Neil Hunt, R-Wake.

The filing officially brings a long-running dispute between Wake County commissioners and the county Board of Education to the General Assembly.

"We're the ones paying for the buildings. We think we should own the buildings," Joe Bryan, chairman of the Wake County Board of Commissioners, said during a a recent episode of On the Record.

While counties have taxing authority and the ability to issue bonds, school systems hire teachers and own school buildings.

"We think we do the best job," School Board Chairman Keith Sutton recently told WRAL News after addressing Wake County lawmakers.

Senate Bill 236 is co-sponsored by other senior legislative leaders, including Rules Committee Chairman Tom Apodaca and Budget Chairman Pete Brunstetter.

In addition to allowing counties statewide to control the buildings and be responsible for their maintenance, the bill would allow schools to use the buildings by "non-school groups, only as authorized by the county commissioners." Currently, some schools rent out their buildings in order to raise extra money.

The bill has not yet been assigned to a committee.

42 Comments

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"Liberals don't think -they just throw money at it. "

As evidenced by the war in Iraq and in fact, the entire DoD.

Oh, wait...

goldenosprey
March 11, 2013 11:10 a.m.

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Absolutely, the County should be in charge of school buildings. Any agency who is conservative in spending needs to be in charge. Land deals for schools have been denied in the past because of the school System being in charge that would have resulted in saving millions of dollars! Liberals don't think -they just throw money at it. The County should be watched carefully as they have also wasted money and are still wasting money. HHS is a mess.

tigo7
March 9, 2013 7:22 a.m.

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@ Me2you - "Can anyone give specifics as to how this will benefit anyone, save money, or be more efficient. Only looks like a political power struggle at this point."

Unless something has changed in the last year - I can tell you how this move would save us county taxpayers a boatload of money. The county is Tax-exempt - and would not pay sales tax on construction materials, thus being able to build schools much cheaper than the school system. One would think that the School system would also be tax-exempt, but for some reason I cannot remember, construction materials were not when purchased by them. Regardless - the Wake County School Board needs a big shake up - they are NOT performing for our students!

The school system does not pay the 2% local sales tax currently on materials.

me2you
March 8, 2013 4:24 p.m.

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This Bill will pass. Time to accept it and move on to fracking. Pollute our ground water or not, that's the real question.

NoTimeForStupidity
March 8, 2013 4:18 p.m.

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Something needs to be done with this left wing radical nut jobs running the school board now.They are out of control. Hopefully this will be a shot across the bow and it is heeded. Its about time the scool board is put back in their place.

tarheelfan41
March 8, 2013 4:01 p.m.

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bend over and take it like a man!

wralhateswhitemen
March 8, 2013 3:52 p.m.

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Not sure if you noticed sean, but the only time Wake County schools were laughingstock was when Margiotta, Tedesco, Goldman and her supposed paramour were running the show. They've been voted out or quit. I and a lot of parents I know would not put kids in other NC counties' school systems.

Your guys lost the school board. Get over it. There is plenty for you to ruin from Jones Street. It's time the Commissioners and the GA took their partisan noses out of the duly elected school board's business.

goldenosprey
March 8, 2013 3:50 p.m.

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If you want our once well-respected public schools to turn into taxpayer funded religious madrassas, this is the way to go...... goldenosprey ...Not sure if you noticed but the Wake Co. School System has been the laughing stock of the whole nation for the past 4 or 5 years... It's time for a change!!! I feel that this seems to be a move in the right direction but, right or wrong, it's waaay past time that power was taken away for the school board and redistributed somewhere else.. They have become worse than three year olds fighting over some toy and its high time they stopped!!!

torchhappysean
March 8, 2013 1:35 p.m.

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"A better approach may be a state bill that disbands the existing Wake County School Board and requires immediate elections at large." - western

That would be great, unfortunately there are too many liberals like the Reverend running their mouths to let this happen.

injameswetrust2003
March 8, 2013 1:24 p.m.

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Now just fire all county school board members and we can save a few more dollars. Fire a few County board members too don't need as many as we have, that'd save some money too.

rroadrunner99
March 8, 2013 1:10 p.m.

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