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During last year’s debate over a proposed consolidated high school in Cherokee County, opponents often referred to the unknown costs above a $50 million state grant as reason enough to turn down the loot and abandon a golden opportunity to take local education to a higher level.
Turns out, the money was on its way.
Section 4.3.(c) of North Carolina’s new biennial budget provides an additional $12 million to any county that received an award for new construction under the previous budget. Our county easily would have qualified for it, and that amount easily could have covered the cost of athletic fields for the new high school.
Instead, the grant was officially turned down after quick votes by the newly constituted Cherokee County Board of Education and Cherokee County Board of Commissioners. While no one could have known in December what exactly would be in the state budget come October, it was no secret that legislators – Sen. Kevin Corbin (R-Franklin) at the top among them – were trying to put more money into rural counties for education. The General Assembly had already brought back small schools funding from Raleigh, which made an $11,136,538 difference in local schools.
Unfortunately, there’s more bad news.
Another part of the same budget makes it clear that state officials don’t take it kindly when they spend valuable time considering all of the options, make a decision and offer grant money, only to get it thrown back in their collective face:
“If a county declines or otherwise forfeits a grant awarded under this section, the Department shall not award additional grants to that county for 24 months from the date the grant award was declined or forfeited.”
That means Cherokee County is not eligible for new grant money in this program until January 2025 at the earliest. That also means two more years of our oldest campuses getting older, with even more challenges, while infrastructure across the district – from air conditioners to boilers and roofs to practically all of Murphy High School – is already in need of dramatic repairs and improvements or a complete replacement altogether.
Maybe that’s a good thing, as it gives the community another year to consider a wide variety of school plans – including the original plan, which was the culmination of six years of hard work and has gained support with the recent budget decision – and hold public hearings with specifics, not the fairly vague outlines being bandied about today. We’re no closer today to putting an educational plan on the ballot than we were when the last plan was unceremoniously reversed.
Remember, too, that the next primary elections are closer than you think – North Carolina is part of Super Tuesday on March 5, 2024 – when two county commission and three board of education seats will be up for grabs, so this issue will continue to play a large role at the ballot box. Much prayer is needed, too, as only a consolidation plan composed through divine intervention is likely to earn the support of 50.1 percent of county voters.
David Brown is publisher of the Cherokee Scout. You can reach him by phone, 828-837-5122; email, dbrown@cherokeescout.com; or on X @daviddBstroh.