Local

Advocates push for nearly $1B CMS bond package with one week to go

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The final stretch of campaigning is underway in Mecklenburg County, with Election Day just a week away.

There’s a significant push for the $922 million Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools bond package, but some aren’t happy about how the message is reaching voters.

[LINK: CMS Bond Information]

Advocates have been out at polling sites, pushing voters to say yes to the plan, and advocates even announced the bond over the PA system at a recent Myers Park High School football game.

Some criticized the district and said that advocacy isn’t allowed, but CMS officials said the message had factual information about the bond.

Supporters of the bond package were at the polls early Tuesday, urging people to vote yes.

“Everybody knows that our teachers and students deserve great schools,” bond advocate Brian Francis said. “Not everybody knows there's an opportunity to pass a bond next Tuesday.”

[Parents against CMS' $1 billion bond concerned after pro-bond message at football game]

School officials said approving the bond would allow CMS to relieve 20 schools of overcrowding and would pay for 17 new schools. The bond would also fund renovations to 12 of the district’s oldest schools, officials said.

Advocates said they want to educate the public because there are people who are still uninformed about the bond package.

[LINK: Mecklenburg Co. Early Voting, Election Day Information]

“We’re talking to people every day. We have a great grassroots campaign. We are reaching out to people through media, yard signs, workers at polling places,” Francis said.

But some educators who are informed about the $922 million bond package said they still plan to vote no to the plan.

“I would say unequivocally there is a need for it,” former educator Judy Kidd said.

Kidd is now with the Classroom Teachers Association. She said that while CMS teachers understand the need for school improvements, some of them aren't on board with the bond.

“I've heard a number of teachers who have said they will not support the bond package,” Kidd said.

Kidd said some teachers feel certain improvements are the result of under-the-table deals, and others are disappointed over the outcome of student assignment. In general, she said, it's an issue of mistrust in CMS leadership.

“I don't know it's the bond package they don't have confidence in,” Kidd said. “I don't think they have built enough trust with the present administration.”

Kidd said she questions whether the bond will pass and some Mecklenburg County leaders echoed that concern to Channel 9 on Tuesday.

County leaders said there hasn't been enough advertisement of the bond package, which could lead to a negative result on Election Day.

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