LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

March 18, 2013

LEGISLATURE 309 LEGISLATIVE OFFICE BLDG. 300 N. SALISBURY STREET RALEIGH, NC 27603 (919)733-5850 neal.hunt@ncleg.net 15TH SENATE DISTRICT 2600 FAIRVIEW ROAD RALEIGH, NC 27608 (919)781-3464 info@nealhunt.com

SENATE BILL 236 COUNTIES RESPONSIBLE FOR SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION I have filed Senate Bill 236, a bill to turn over public school construction and ownership from County Boards of Education to County Boards of Commissioners. It has received a lot of attention from the press and correspondence from constituents, so I would like to take this opportunity to discuss the specifics of this bill and why it is important for North Carolina. Senate Bill 236 will provide savings for county taxpayers across North Carolina. There would be a consolidation of services to save money because Counties already have site/facility acquisition staffs and could absorb those duties. Secondly, Boards of Education pay sales tax on purchases, but Counties do not. Thirdly, Counties rely heavily on bond ratings from Moodys, Standard & Poors, and Fitch. The better the rating a County has, the cheaper the money the County can borrow for all services the County provides. Counties need the benefit of having schools as assets rather than just having liabilities. They already pay for the sites and construction, thus they should own the asset. A financially strong County benefits all citizens. The biggest reason I have filed this bill is because Boards of Education need to focus on educating students and not on land acquisition and construction. Decisions like these need to be made by business people, not educators. County commissioners tend to have business backgrounds (see below), whereas school board members tend to have education backgrounds, which are great for educating our children. County commissioners are better suited at making these types of business decisions. I have done some research to find the occupational backgrounds of our urban Boards of Education and Boards of Commissioners. I investigated the four biggest counties/school systems in North Carolina: Mecklenburg, Wake, Guilford, Forsyth, and Durham Counties. 62% of county commissioners have business backgrounds compared to 9% of school board members. 41% of school board members have backgrounds in education compared to 16% of county commissioners. Below are two pie charts showing the occupational backgrounds of county

commissioners and school board members from the aforementioned counties (my office has the county-by-county results if youre interested): NC URBAN SCHOOL BOARD OCCUPATIONS
Unknown, 4, 9% Other, 2, 5% Pastor, 4, 9%

Education, 18, 41%

SCHOOL BOARDS Charlotte-Mecklenburg Wake County Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Guilford County Durham County

Homemaker, 3, 7% Government, 2, 4% Law, 3, 7% Medical, 4, 9% Business, 4, 9%

NC URBAN COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' OCCUPATIONS

COUNTIES Mecklenburg Wake Guilford Forsyth Durham

Other, 3, 8% Law, 1, 3% Government, 4, 11%

Education, 6, 16%

Business, 23, 62%

Businesspeople know how the market works, how to strike the best land deals, how to build better buildings, etc., thus it makes sense for them to be responsible for the construction and ownership of school buildings. Educators know how to teach students, thus they should stay focused on educating our children.

SENATE BILL 325 WAKE COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD DISTRICTS The second bill I have recently filed is SB 325, a bill that will create new electoral districts for the Wake County Board of Education. Many times parents are confused under the current Wake County school board plan as to who represents them on the board. For instance, a parent could live in one school board district, but their childs school is located in another. To whom do they voice their concerns? With the passage of SB 325, parents will have two members on the Board of Education. Voters will elect one person in a small district for a four-year term starting in 2014. They will also elect one person to represent a large district for a four-year term starting in 2016. All-in-all, Wake County will have seven small districts and two large districts, meaning nine members on the Board of Education. TWO PROPOSED LARGE DISTRICTS

SEVEN PROPOSED SMALL DISTRICTS

This is not an unusual concept for Triangle citizens. The model Im proposing is exactly the same model that the Durham County Board of Education uses. Durham County voters elect one candidate to represent a large district and elect another candidate to represent them in a small district. It is a common sense solution to a problem we face in Wake County. I am hopeful both bills will pass the legislature and receive Governor McCrorys signature. Im committed to reaching the greatest outcome for Wake County students. One bill allows county school boards to focus more of their time educating students, while the other will provide more responsive representation to Wake County students and parents. As always, it is a pleasure to serve you in the North Carolina Senate! Sincerely,

Neal Hunt

Join in the conversation and connect with me

Direct questions/comments to Kyle Hall at kyle.hall@ncleg.net or (919)733-5850 If for any reason you do not wish to receive further newsletters, please reply to this e-mail and type in Unsubscribe on the subject line.