“This represents a massive long-term investment in modernizing our school facilities, and it's fairly common for lots of school districts to issue bond referendums when it comes time to upgrade or modernize school facilities,” he said. Final plans will not be put in place until funding can be secured via the bond’s passage.
Under CHCCS’ current long-term plans, a number of projects are under consideration:
- A new middle school adjacent to the existing Morris Grove Elementary School.
- Replacements for Carrboro Elementary School and Culbreth Middle School with new buildings located on the same sites of each respective school.
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Frank Porter Graham and Estes Hills Elementary schools, built in 1960 and 1940 respectively, would be taken offline — meaning the schools would not be used for instruction, but the land would be available for use in the future.
- Frank Porter Graham is being explored as a possible swing school, which could be used while new facilities are constructed.
“Our teachers, staff and students are still doing well and accomplishing great things in the spaces that they currently have, but it's clear that the time to modernize is now, which explains why Orange County is moving us forward with this bond referendum to, over time, replace our oldest school buildings,” Jenks said.
If money were no object, the system could make a sizable dent in the age of its schools, but land and funding restraints have held decisionmakers back, Al Ciarochi, deputy superintendent of operations for CHCCS, said at the CHCCS Board of Education meeting on June 6.
“It’s hitting us at a point where we have to make the best decisions possible. We have some facilities that are hemorrhaging, they need immediate relief, we have others that we’re continuing to have to provide daily and annual operational maintenance improvements,” Ciarochi said.
OCS is currently considering three major projects:
- Replacing one of the district’s elementary schools.
- Replacing the current Orange Middle School.
- Rebuilding or significantly renovating an additional elementary school.
Remaining funding for each school district would be directed toward high priority repairs.
Sarah Smylie, a member of the OCS Board of Education, voiced concern at the board’s June 10 meeting about the potential to use more of their share of the bond for repairs as opposed to construction or renovation.
“What I wish we were doing was [replacing the] elementary school, the middle school and that the partial rebuild funding was channeled instead to the priority needs,” she said.
Chapel Hill Municipal Bond
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Chapel Hill voters will also have the chance to approve $44 million in municipal bonds, split among 5 separate bond orders — $15 million would go toward affordable housing initiatives, $15 million toward public facilities, $7.5 million toward streets and sidewalks, $4.5 million to parks and recreation facilities and $2 million allocated for open spaces and greenways.
Town departments were asked to submit their top three capital projects, and their submissions were evaluated by several metrics before the final bond amounts were decided, Amy Oland, Chapel Hill's business management director, said at the town council’s June 6 meeting.
The Town of Chapel Hill has a debt capacity over the next five years of approximately $50.5 million, meaning the town can issue that amount in debt without raising taxes.
The council ordered $6.5 million toward a financing agreement with the developer behind the new Rosemary Street parking deck, leaving $44 million in potential debt available without a tax increase.
The Town Council will hold a hearing for each of the five bond orders on Tuesday, June 17.
@mckbul
@DTHCityState | city@dailytarheel.com
McKenzie BulrisMcKenzie Bulris is a 2023-24 audio & video co-editor at the Daily Tar Heel. He has previously served as the video editor. McKenzie is pursuing a double major in journalism and media and public policy.
