CMS says all school construction could stop

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Bad news for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools parents and students -- new schools may not be built to ease the overcrowding issues.

There were four new elementary schools scheduled to be completed over the next few years in Mecklenburg County. But CMS Superintendent Dr. Peter Gorman says the school board may change those plans.

Parent Dustin Meacham doesn't like the sound of that.

"I think what we need more of is elementary (schools)," he said.

Meacham has two soon-to-be elementary students and says building new permanent school buildings would "put a halt to a lot of upset parents."

But on Wednesday, Gorman announced, "The board is preparing for what could be a complete stop in school facilities construction at this time."

Gorman cited a $65 million budget reduction as part of the problem and said, "The board is going to enter into a serious of discussions about that. If I had to guess, I would say it's going to be a yearlong process."

The voters approved the sale of hundreds of millions of dollars in bond money. The problem is if the county sells those bonds, they will have to pay them back. That would give the county more debt.

Mecklenburg County Budget Director Hyong Yi said the commission decided they cannot afford to take on any more debt because revenues have not improved after the economic recession.

The lack of funding for CMS will affect dozens of schools. It means at least four new elementary schools will not be built, and Newell Elementary, Pineville Elementary, Alexander Middle, East Mecklenburg High, West Mecklenburg High and Myers Park High schools (just to name a few) will not get the needed renovations. Also, Garinger High and Olympic High School will not get new track and field facilities.

"Living next to a school like this, a student could up and take off for lunch time for the rest of the day and nobody's going to miss them," said Meacham.

He's concerned the lack of new school construction will mean more overcrowding and more trailers at existing schools.

"Trailers are not safe at all," he said.

But Gorman says there are other options to solve that overcrowding problem. He says redrawing school boundaries could be considered.

"What if we changed the school boundaries to go in that so we could alleviate the need for having that new school built?" Gorman said.

Gorman said any decisions are still a long way off.