CMS could change the boundaries around these suburban schools
The public will learn Wednesday how many schools and students would be affected if the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board pursues plans to redraw boundaries in response to a state law allowing four suburban towns to create charter schools.
In an August resolution titled “The Municipal Concerns Act of 2018,” the board ordered Superintendent Clayton Wilcox to do a “feasibility report” on changing boundaries to relieve crowding and assign all students who live Matthews, Mint Hill and Huntersville to schools within those towns.
The board will not vote on any changes Wednesday. Instead, the superintendent’s report will go to a new advisory panel with representatives from CMS, the city of Charlotte and all six suburban towns, scheduled to hold its first meeting Dec. 4.
School board leaders say their resolution, which also includes low priority for future school construction in Matthews, Mint Hill, Huntersville and Cornelius, is a response to House Bill 514. That bill was introduced by state Rep. Bill Brawley, a Matthews Republican, and approved by the General Assembly in June. It allows those four towns to spend municipal tax money on charter schools that could offer priority seating to town residents.
CMS leaders say that undermines the district’s planning because a town charter school could end up competing with a nearby CMS school, potentially wasting taxpayer money.
The act requires Wilcox to report on moves to reassign students to schools within town boundaries in three towns. Board leaders say that’s because officials representing those towns talked about wanting towns to have their own schools. Those moves would be:
▪ Assigning all Huntersville students to Hopewell or North Mecklenburg high schools, Bailey or J.M. Alexander middle schools and Barnette , Blythe, Grand Oak, Huntersville or Long Creek elementary schools.
▪ Assigning all Matthews students to Butler High, Crestdale Middle and Matthews, Crown Point or Elizabeth Lane elementary schools.
▪ Assigning all Mint Hill students to Rocky River High, Mint Hill or Northeast middle schools and Bain Elementary.
Wilcox’s report will presumably address the effect such changes would have not only on the named schools but on nearby schools that would lose students. For instance, board Chair Mary McCray said in April that hundreds of Matthews students who attend Providence High in Charlotte could face reassignment if legislators passed HB 514.
The August resolution also calls for Wilcox to report on unspecified “student assignment-based options” to relieve overcrowding in the four suburban towns. The act initially listed four specific proposals, which were deleted shortly before the board’s vote in an apparent attempt to defuse controversy:
▪ Moving students from Hough High in Cornelius to Hopewell or North Meck.
▪ Moving students from Bailey Middle School in Cornelius to J.M. Alexander or Bradley.
▪ Moving students from J.V. Washam Elementary in Cornelius to Cornelius and/or Grand Oak elementary schools.
▪ Moving students from Elizabeth Lane Elementary in Matthews to Matthews and/or Crown Point elementary schools.
The Municipal Concerns Act called for Wilcox’s report to be presented Oct. 30, but it was postponed in the wake of an Oct. 29 shooting at Butler High. That means instead of landing a week before the election, it will come the day after Brawley and other Republicans who supported HB 514 learn whether they survived Democratic challenges for their seats.
Wednesday’s meeting (it’s a day later than usual to avoid clashing with election night) starts at 6 p.m. in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center, 600 E. Fourth St. It will be broadcast live on CMS-TV Cable 3 and online. People who want to make brief comments about any topic can do so at the beginning of the meeting; get on the speaker list by calling 980-343-5139, option 4, by noon Wednesday or sign up on site by 5:45 p.m.