Election 2023: School construction bonds

All the info you need to cast an informed vote

Oct 15, 2023

Welcome to the Charlotte Ledger Election Hub for the 2023 general election.

◼️ This page contains information on the $2.5 billion school bond vote

You can find information on other items on the ballot — the Charlotte City Council and mayor’s race and the school board race — on our general Election Hub page.

In 2023, Mecklenburg voters are being asked to approve $2.5 billion for school construction.

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🎧 Learn about the school bond vote in an 8-minute episode of The Charlotte Ledger Podcast

Basic questions about the CMS school bonds

What is it?

Mecklenburg County is seeking approval to issue $2.5 billion in bonds for school construction.

The language on the ballot is:

SHALL the order authorizing $2,500,000,000 of bonds plus interest to provide funds to pay the costs of constructing, improving, and renovating school facilities, specifically including, among other things, the construction and renovation of classroom facilities, the construction and equipping of athletic facilities, the acquisition and installation of furnishings and equipment, the acquisition of land, rights-of-way and easements in land required therefor, and related public infrastructure development, and providing that additional taxes may be levied in an amount sufficient to pay the principal of and interest on the bonds be approved?

What would it do?

If voters approve, the bonds would pay to start 30 school construction projects in the next five years, which were pared down from a list of 125 projects costing $5.3B. The projects connected with this year’s proposed bonds are spread out throughout the county. Most are renovations or replacement buildings.

➡️ You can view the proposed list here.

The projects are spread throughout Mecklenburg County:

How much would it cost?

Unlike other bonds in the past, officials this time say that they would need to raise property taxes to pay for the bonds.

The county’s chief financial officer projected in May that if the bonds pass, the county will need to raise property taxes by 1 cent per $100 of valuation in 2025, 2028 and 2029. On a $400,000 house, each 1 cent increase equals $40 more in property taxes. So by 2029, the owner of that house would be paying $120 a year more in taxes to pay for the school bonds, though a planned revaluation in 2027 could scramble that math.

Why does CMS say that it is needed?

Officials say students are learning in substandard conditions, which inhibits their academic achievement.

They say, for instance:

When it rains hard at Matthews Elementary, water pours into the school’s media center and hallways.
At Beverly Woods Elementary in the SouthPark area, there are 12 classrooms with no windows.
At Berryhill Elementary, west of Charlotte’s airport, is on well water and a septic tank.
Other schools in the county have spotty wifi because it’s hard to retrofit 1950s buildings. Some running tracks go behind the bleachers. Decades-old classrooms are spread among an open campus that’s hard to secure in an era of school shootings.

They say approving the bonds would allow them to start addressing some of the district’s most critical needs. Rejecting the bonds, they say, would cause CMS to fall further behind and would raise costs of getting the job done.

The bonds are supported by most elected leaders in Mecklenburg County, and the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance is also advocating for it, with the support of major Charlotte businesses.

Why do some people oppose the bonds?

Opponents of the bonds don’t deny that the school system has needs. But they suggest that a better course of action is for voters to reject the bonds and for county commissioners to assess the need for school construction alongside other county priorities, like libraries and parks.

That approach, they say, could help avoid some of the tax increases in the next few years needed to pay for the bonds — especially after a property revaluation that sent most homeowners’ tax bills soaring.

The organized opposition is being led by a group of Black pastors. Three Democratic county commissioners also voted against placing $2.5 billion in bonds on the ballot. They favored a lesser amount.

What happens if the bonds are rejected?

If the bonds fail, there would still likely be an effort to get construction money to CMS. But it would likely be slower and more meager than if the bonds are approved.

Additional resources on the school bond vote

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What each side is saying about the bonds

The ‘Vote Yes’ side

◼️ Substandard conditions are not acceptable: “Why would we, when we have the opportunity to do better, why would we be satisfied with our students being in substandard conditions? It’s just not acceptable. And I don’t believe that our community at large believes that it’s acceptable for all of the students here in Mecklenburg County” —Superintendent Crystal Hill, on “Charlotte Talks with Mike Collins”

◼️ Higher price tag, and tax increases, stem from higher cost of construction: “The difference with this proposed bond referendum is really the size of it. And I think one of the important things that we should point out for the public to understand is when we did the 2017 bond, it was $922 million. That was for 29 projects. Fast forward to 2023. It's a $2.5 billion bond for 30 projects. It's really driven by the cost of construction, which everybody I think understands has escalated significantly over the years. … The tax increases that are built in here are really driven by the cost of construction.” —Dena Diorio, Mecklenburg County manager, on “Charlotte Talks with Mike Collins”

◼️ It’s a big bond because school buildings are falling behind the times: “Part of why it is such a historic magnitude is No. 1, we're still playing catch up. The need has just continued to outpace our ability to have bonds to meet the needs. And then coming out of the pandemic, I think there's a greater awareness in the public of the importance of healthy buildings — clean air and healthy ventilation and sunlight. … We have buildings that are decades old and are just kind of crumbling and are not optimal learning environments.” —CMS board chair Elyse Dashew, at Charlotte Area Chamber of Commerce forum

◼️ Passing the bond will make schools safer: “North Meck is scheduled to be rebuilt. That was built in 1951. Safety is a very different ballgame than it was when a lot of these schools were built. … They have multiple buildings, open campuses, where it's really difficult to secure the perimeter. But Columbine happened, and that changed how everybody builds schools. … It's just gotten to that place where there's a certain way to build a school where you can secure the perimeter.” –CMS board chair Elyse Dashew, at Charlotte Area Chamber of Commerce forum

◼️ You can repair for only so long: “Many of the buildings — the projects that are on our list are older than a lot of people on this call. And so it gets to a certain point where a building is just [at the] end of [its] life, and you can only repair it so much. And it costs so much to repair that it's just better to replace.” —Crystal Hill, CMS superintendent, on “Charlotte Talks with Mike Collins”

◼️ The needs are real: “I was down in Matthews last night at Matthews Elementary, talking with parents down there. … They can’t have carpet in the media center because of the constant flooding, water running down the hallway and things of that nature — and how they always get shorted out at times with their electrical system, how it feels like the wind is blowing within the building. I think people understand what they are up against in their particular school building. We just need the public to understand.” —Mary McCray, former school board member, on “Charlotte Talks with Mike Collins”

The ‘Vote No’ side

◼️ Taxes just keep going up: “When you hear 1 cent or ½ a cent, that might not sound like much. But keep in mind that is per $100 [of] assessed value that the rate is going up. We saw an unbelievable property reval that impacted low-wealth and minority communities, particularly in the crescent. We saw a tax increase because we did not go revenue neutral in the budget. Then we vote for these bonds — that will be three different times these property owners would have been hit with taxes.” —The Rev. Ricky Woods, First Baptist Church-West, on “Charlotte Talks with Mike Collins”

◼️ Some residents are struggling with the tax burden: “I have in my congregation a 100-year-old member who is a retired CMS teacher who still lives in her own home in the McCrorey Heights neighborhood. Her taxes went up almost 300%. And that’s before the bond vote. And they’re going up even more. I’m hearing from people like that, who come into my office and are asking me, ‘Pastor, how am I supposed to pay this?’” —The Rev. Ricky Woods, First Baptist Church-West, on “Charlotte Talks with Mike Collins”

◼️ CMS needs to prioritize its needs: “What CMS needs to do is go back and prioritize their projects. Our ‘no’ campaign does not mean we are against public schools. We believe there is a better way to address the school system’s needs than floating a $2.5 billion bond package to voters coming out of a pandemic and at a time when interest rates are at a 20-year high.” —The Rev. Ricky Woods, First Baptist Church-West, on “Charlotte Talks with Mike Collins”

◼️ Covid, inflation and the property revaluation are already straining people’s budgets: “There's a perfect storm, in terms of inflation, or people coming off really tough times. The other piece is the reval. … I don't recall a time where folks’ property values have gone up 200%, 300%. … This reval has been astronomical for some folks. … So you’ve got this inflation and Covid, [and] you’ve got this extraordinary reval. … When you add on these other things we're planning to do, your taxes will ultimately go up 10.9%. … That’s the perfect storm that I’m talking about.” —Arthur Griffin, Charlotte Area Chamber of Commerce forum

◼️ Even without the bonds, the county can still come up with money for schools: “We have money. I don’t want anybody to think we are broke. We have money. I’ll give you an example: There was a little project out on the Catawba River, this tennis thing. It wasn’t budgeted. And we found $30 million or maybe $50 million to bring tennis here. … There’s no dispute about the needs. The needs are there. It’s just how we’re going to address those needs.” – Arthur Griffin, Charlotte Area Chamber of Commerce forum

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Executive editor: Tony Mecia; Managing editor: Cristina Bolling; Staff writer: Lindsey Banks; Business manager: Brie Chrisman, BC Creative