Bill filed for $2 Billion School Bond!

Sen. David Hoyle filed updated legislation earlier this week that would provide for a $2 billion school bond referendum. S1144 included county-by-county allocations. The $2 billion was divided into three pots – 50 percent is divvied up by ADM, 25 percent to counties experiencing ADM growth over the last five years, and 25 percent to “low wealth” counties. Each county is guaranteed at least $1 million. The distribution formula appears to be very similar to that which was pushed by the “Education: Everybody’s Business” Coalition during the winter. If the bond bill gets any traction, the allocation formula is likely to be changed during negotiations. For instance, seven counties are actually slated to receive significantly more money than what DPI has listed for their five-year facility needs.

County officials are being urged through the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners to examine the bill to see if the funds would be significant to their county and contact their legislators to make sure they understand county public school capital needs.

The legislation calls for the election to be held Tuesday, Nov. 6.