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School merger still a hot topic
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Published: September 28, 2008
North Carolina Senate Bill 120 may have been lost in committee for nearly 18 months, but a few folks in South Iredell County — and in the governor's race — haven't forgotten about it.
The much-debated school merger bill that, if passed, would abolish the Mooresville Graded School District, has been languishing in the Senate's Committee on Appropriations since February 2007.
Both Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory and Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue, the Republican and Democratic gubernatorial candidates, have each taken a stand on the issue.
Although their views conflict slightly, both are in agreement that the decision of how many school districts a county can support should be made on the local level.
Senate Bill 120 — sponsored by Tony Rand of Fayetteville and William Purcell of Laurinburg — was filed on Feb. 8, 2007, and would effectively force a merger between the MGSD and Iredell-Statesville Schools.
The bill calls for the State Board of Education to provide funding for only one school district per county, thereby eliminating multiple school districts in North Carolina counties. Of North Carolina's 100 counties, 11 have multiple school districts. Fifteen city districts exist within these counties.
Proponents say the bill will save millions of dollars a year in general fund expenditures for the state. Opponents say the bill will wrest local control of education from municipalities and counties and make school districts larger and more unwieldy.
Senate Bill 120 was slated to go into effect on July 1, 2007, but never moved from the Committee on Appropriations to the legislative calendar. But Rep. Karen Ray said in July 2007 that, because the bill doesn't have to meet the Senate's crossover requirements, it could still come up for consideration in a future Senate session.
Despite little movement on the bill, the issue of whether or not to merge school districts has remained alive during this election season, even making its way into the gubernatorial debates.
Richard Hudson, McCrory's campaign manager, said Wednesday that McCrory's stance on the issue was muddled a bit in a recent debate, because McCrory misunderstood a moderator's question on the issue. The campaign, said Hudson, issued a press release soon after, stating that McCrory does not support merging school districts in North Carolina as outlined in the bill.
"His position is and always has been has been that as many decisions as possible should be made on the local level," said Hudson. "(McCrory) has never supported forced consolidation of schools."
Officials for Perdue's campaign said Friday that Perdue has her own personal feelings about the issue of merging schools, but that those personal feelings shouldn't deprive districts of local control to make their own decisions about their future.
"(Perdue's) position was that her preference was for one district per county, but she would not force that," said David Kochman, the campaign's communication director. "She would leave it up to local government."
Mark Edwards, the MGSD's superintendent, said any opportunity to speak against the merger is a good one. The MGSD, he said, "has very, very strong feelings" against a merger with I-SS.
"We believe the school system has operated well and performed well," he said. "It has a 100-year tradition of excellence."
Edwards said the MGSD has joined a city schools consortium and its members have "joined together to do everything to make sure that legislation continues to provide for city school systems in the state."
"We have strong programs for children," he said. "Larger is not necessarily better."
I-SS Superintendent Terry Holliday and Mike Munger, the Libertarian gubernatorial candidate, could not be reached for comment.
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