Bill James Weighs In On CMS Funding
Mecklenburg Commissioner Bill James blasted out an email this week that pretty much speaks for itself and is sure to ruffle some feathers as 1) Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools enters its budget season with a request of $27.5 million in additional funding from the county and 2) a group of residents, largely from Mecklenburg’s southern and northern suburbs, is pushing for legislation that would split CMS into three smaller, independent school districts. James email:
CMS discloses district funding disparity
Disparity between districts is huge
District 6 alone lost $19 million to the inner-city (based on average funding)
District 1 (Republican) $4,943 per student (second lowest amount)
District 2 (Democrat) $6,000 per student
District 3 (Democrat) $6,112 per student
District 4 (Democrat) $6,332 per student
District 5 (Republican) $5,304 per student
District 6 (Republican) $4,784 per student (lowest amount)
Average funding is roughly $5,526 per student (County dollars only). For District 6 that means that we receive $742 per child LESS THAN the average (at $4,784). Since District 6 has 25,957 children, this means a loss of $19,260,074 – a wealth transfer from District 6 into the inner-city. These amounts don’t include State dollars that also could be allocated in a discriminatory way by CMS.
Which is why suburban children would be better off if CMS was broken up into three Districts (one Northern School District, one Southern School District, and the center city of Charlotte).
If split up, the new Southern and Northern School districts could provide more money to children living there.
Bill James
County Commission
District 6, R
Thoughts?
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