Should the Wake County school board reallocate money from the last bond issue to pay for upgrading Athens Drive High School's athletic stadium improvements or continue to leave it as part of the next construction program?

The Athens Drive community has been in an uproar since Wake County Commissioner Paul Coble questioned at last week's joint meeting including the project as part of the next capital improvement program. Parents spoke at Monday's commissioners meeting about why they felt the project needs to be funded.

Coble's response Monday was to question a request from the school system to reallocate money from the 2006 capital improvement program. He suggested the school board tap into that fund instead to pay for Athens Drive.

it's safe to say that the ongoing struggle over who will control school construction in Wake County had a noticeable impact on Thursday's joint meeting of the school board and county commissioners.

As noted in today's article, several heated exchanges between school board members and commissioners took place as they discussed this $939.9 million school construction program. Officials readily acknowledged that the Senate's passage of Senate Bill 236 on Wednesday helped raise the emotions.

"You’ve got some lingering tension over the victory we had in the Senate yesterday,” said Joe Bryan, chairman of the board of commissioners, in an interview. “We’ve got to come together to get a bond passed.”

More to come later, but there was an abrupt end to today's joint Wake County school board and board of commissioners meeting on the bond issue.

School board chairman Keith Sutton adjourned the meeting early to cut off the heated exchange between Commissioner Paul Coble and school board member Jim Martin. Coble accused the school board of not showing how it was going to stretch dollars to save money while Martin accused him of not making honest statements to the public.

In one particularly heated moment, Martin asked Coble to say how he'd save money. Martin asked if Coble wanted mandatory year-round, saying he'd offer to share with him all the letters from parents who hate the idea.

The Great Schools in Wake Coalition is mobilizing people to show up at Monday's Wake legislative delegation meeting to speak out against the bills that would change school ownership and school board elections.

"Both the Great Schools in Wake coalition and Friends of Dorothea Dix Park have issued alerts asking their members and supporters to show up en masse — and, for the Dix Park crowd, wearing green," writes Bob Geary in this blog post today the liberal Independent Weekly.

GSIW had already mobilized people last month in an unsuccessful bid to persuade the Wake County Board of Commissioners to withdraw their request for the legislation.

GSIW is backing the Wake County school board in opposing legislation that would take away its ownership of schools and change how and when board members are elected.

UPDATE

Due to the large crowd expected, the meeting has been moved to Room 643 of the Legislative Office Building, 300 N. Salisbury St., Raleigh.

See end of post for more info on Great Schools' action alert and an email from the Wake County Democratic Party also urging people to speak out Monday.

Having both served as a mayor and as chairman of the Wake County Board of Commissioners, we have supported parks and open-space issues to improve the quality of life for all Wake County residents. But we must applaud state lawmakers for questioning the recent deal between the State of North Carolina and the City of Raleigh on a long-term lease for the property at Dorothea Dix.

It appears that the former governor made a hasty deal to hand over the Dix property to the city for a price that does not seem to be fair to North Carolina residents. It is appropriate that our new governor and state legislature take a hard look at that deal and its effects on residents of the state and, in particular, on those suffering with mental illness.

Turning over the Dix property to Raleigh for a mere $500,000 per year hardly takes the value of the land into account and shortchanges anyone who valued the location and services of Dix Hospital. A more appropriate deal might be to have the property fairly appraised and then to offer a portion for purchase or long-term lease at a fair market price for a park.

The City of Raleigh, with a firm offer in hand, could then ask voters to support a bond issue that would provide the financing needed to obtain the property for city uses. The state would benefit by receiving the value of the property in a lump sum, which it could use to improve mental health services at Dix or to build a new facility in another convenient location.

Either way, those needing mental health services would have new or improved facilities in the centrally located capital county and would not need to travel to Butner, Goldsboro or Morganton. An additional benefit would be the time saved for law enforcement officers who spend hours escorting individuals needing evaluation to facilities outside Wake County.

It would seem to be more important to watch out for the needs of those who may not be able to help themselves than to add additional park land to the city at an unreasonably low price.

This could be a win-win for everyone if the state would offer a portion of the Dix property to the City of Raleigh at a fair market price, supported by an independent appraisal. The city would gain a new and exciting park with the support of the taxpayers, and, more importantly, the state would have the financial resources to improve services for the clients of mental health services and preserve the true legacy of Dorothea Dix.

Joe Bryan
Chair, Wake County Board of Commissioners
Former mayor of Knightdale

Paul Y. Coble
Wake County Commissioner
Former mayor of Raleigh

So what does the business community think of the proposal to turn over ownership of schools from the Wake County Board of Education to the Wake County Board of Commissioners?

During last week's joint meeting, Joe Bryan, commissioners chairman, brought up the 2008 proposal from the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce for the school board to give up school ownership to the county. Bryan then brought up the results of a more recent survey conducted by the Chamber.

“Surveys done recently through the Chamber suggest a large group of the population sees that is the best model for the county to own, build and maintain schools and it also improves potential passage of the school bond issue," Bryan said.

Members of the Great Schools in Wake Coalition and other supporters of the Democratic school board majority turned their attention Monday on the Republican majority on the Wake County Board of Commissioners.

During the public comment section, several speakers criticized the commissioners for asking for state legislation to take over ownership of schools, to be able to give money to help build charter schools and to change the way school board members are elected. It also came with a warning.

"I hope that the Wake County Commissioners don't want to radicalize lots of middle-class parents," said Robert Siegel. "But if you do start messing with our schools, we're going to respond the same way we responded to the extremist school board of 2009. I don't think you want Wake County to become a national disgrace again."

The Wake County school system might be in line to get as much as $10 million more from county commissioners this year.

During today's operating budget presentation, it was repeatedly mentioned that county commissioners don't know how much of an increase the school board will request. Interim Superintendent Stephen Gainey is expected to present a budget proposal to the school board in March.

County Manager David Cooke noted that last year, as has sometimes happened in the past, they gave the school system a proportionate share of the growth in the tax base. If that's done again, Cooke said that would mean around an $8 million increase.

Wake County school board chairman Keith Sutton is warning about severe consequences should county commissioners have their way and get their legislative changes approved.

As noted in today's article, Sutton repeatedly characterized the changes commissioners want in school ownership, charter school facilities funding and at-large school board elections as a "power grab." He said there's nothing showing things would improve if commissioners have their way.

“The plan is to decimate the public school system as we know it and build it up in some other way,” Sutton said in a meeting Thursday with News & Observer reporters and editors.

The bad blood continues to flow between the Wake County Board of Commissioners and the school board.

As noted in today's article by Martha Quillin, Republican commissioners accused the school system of misleading taxpayers about its fund balance. The GOP majority also tabled approval of a land purchase for a northeast Raleigh middle school and accused the school board of engaging in politics in wanting them to approve buying the former YWCA building in Raleigh.

GOP commissioners said they were speaking for the taxpayers. But Democratic commissioners said Republicans were endangering development of the next school bond issue and harming relations with the school board.