Candidates running for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education attended their last question and answer forum Wednesday night. They answered questions concerning achievement gaps among students, professional development for teachers and budget cuts.
Six of the seven candidates running for school board were present at the forum — incumbents Jamezetta Bedford, Mia Day Burroughs, Mike Kelley and Annetta Streater, and challengers James Barrett and Kris Castellano. Raymond Conrad was out of town at the time of the forum.
The Hogan Farms Precinct of the Orange County Democratic Party hosted the nonpartisan forum. Each candidate was allotted a few minutes to answer questions from the moderator, and they also answered a few questions from the audience.
Questions from the moderator, Fred Black, host of WCHL News:
Question: Our public schools will be facing some lean budgets over the next four years. If you could be sure to save one program, what would your top priority be?
Streater said that success of students depends a lot on their health. She would make it a priority to save funding for school nurses and strong child nutrition programs.
Burroughs said she would do all it takes to provide excellent teaching, even if it means spending more money on helping teachers become better equipped.
Kelley also said he would make having top teachers in school a priority.
“Every student needs a highly-trained, efficient teacher in the classroom every day,” he said.
Barrett said he would save the Blue Ribbon Mentor-Advocate program and the dual language programs.
Bedford said she would save elementary school teaching assistants and the arts and gym programs for all grade levels.
Castellano said she would focus the use of funds to help all students reach literacy by second grade.
Question: Referring to the proposed quarter-cent sales tax increase, Kirk Ross of The Carrboro Citizen wrote that bonds are a better way to fund schools than an increase in sales tax. Do you agree or disagree with Ross’ position favoring bonds over a sales tax hike to raise money for the public schools?
Burroughs said she supports the sales tax because the county commissioners have made a commitment to using half of the revenue for schools over the next decade.
“Bonds strike me as a one-time source of funding,” she said.
Bedford said she supports the sales tax because the budget for Chapel Hill-Carrboro City schools have been cut by a million dollars each year.
Castellano said she supports the sales tax because both the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City schools and Orange County schools need more funds for school improvements, and right now only only a few of the necessary improvements they’ve identified are addressed each year.
Streater said she supports the sales tax because she sees it as an opportunity for the district to balance out the financial burden of public school funding between residents and visitors to the county.
“We’ve not been able to benefit from the visitors to the school,” she said. She said tax revenue could come from sales to visitors, especially to the UNC campus.
Kelley said he supports the sales tax because bonds have to be paid back somehow. He said they are usually paid back by revenue from property tax and thinks a sales tax increase will be less burdensome for the county.
Barrett said he also supports the sales tax.
“The county is at its debt limit today,” he said.
He also said even if the sales tax passes, county residents would still be paying three quarters of a percent less than previous years because the state reduced the county sales tax by one percent during the summer.
The candidates all agreed that achieving literacy in the first years of school is a top priority for the board.
All six also put an emphasis on the need for better professional development in teachers. They said they are excited to work with the new superintendent, Thomas Forcella, to increase high-quality instruction.
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