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There's no money to build or renovate schools - but when there is, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board must figure out how to rank its priorities.
They started with a staff report Tuesday. Among the questions raised: Will the board stick with the current student-assignment process? Will it keep a 10-month school year? Are mobile classrooms acceptable as permanent solutions to crowding?
Answers may be months in coming.
"This is like a Step One, because we're into such a new economic reality," board chair Eric Davis said before the meeting. "It's going to kick off a series of discussions that will later result in a plan."
In 2007, when voters approved a record $516 million in school bonds, the economy was healthy and enrollment was booming.
Now the school district is waiting for county approval to spend money that's already been approved, and another bond vote is at least two years away, said CMS construction planner Mike Raible.
Superintendent Peter Gorman told the board CMS was on schedule until the recession forced county officials to slow down borrowing.
"Our slogan was, 'Promises made, promises kept.' We were absolutely on target to finish on time," Gorman said.
Raible said CMS still has about $300million in projects that have already been promised and approved by voters.
Last year, commissioners said they'd borrow $70 million for CMS this summer, but now they're talking about waiting longer.
Board member Joe White warned that board members who didn't agree with the list of projects promised during the bond might try to "grab" money for their own plans. Because the project list was not on the ballot, CMS is not legally bound to follow it.
"What I'm saying to the public is, 'Keep your eyes and ears open,'" White said.
Enrollment dropped slightly this year, driven partly by a change in the cutoff date for kindergarten. Next year, CMS expects to add some 1,200 students to its enrollment of about 133,670, Raible said. Just a few years ago, newcomers were pouring in and enrollment was growing by 3,000 to 5,000 a year.
Relieving crowded schools remains the top challenge, closely followed by preventing deterioration of older buildings, according to the report.
The board, which includes five members elected to their first term in November, will have to set its priorities before the staff begins ranking projects.
Rhonda Lennon said she's worried about northern schools, such as Torrence Creek Elementary, that have already fallen behind enrollment.
CMS staff has done a 477-page report itemizing building conditions, enrollment and capacity at each school. Board members got paper copies Friday night, and officials had promised to post it online before Tuesday's meeting. But as of Tuesday night, after the meeting adjourned, there was no link.
As complicated as that report is, Davis said, "I think the hard work is what's in front of us, and that is solving these problems in a low- to no-capital environment."
