NL supports bond issue

We at the News Leader urge our Johnston County readers to take the time to cast a ballot next Tuesday in support of the bond issues before the voters.
The big one of the three is the school bond, for $99 million. The county continues to try to keep up with growth that is adding seemingly more than a school’s numbers to our county each year.
Many of the reasons for supporting this school bond are no different than the last several that we have passed. At the risk of stating the obvious or repeating some things you have already heard, let me offer my take on some reasons.
When you drive past Princeton School or several of the other campuses that are particularly stressed by growth, you see a trailer park village out back. While that image is not one that is particularly appealing to us, school officials will tell you for the most part the education of students is not significantly adversely affected by having to sit in a mobile classroom for part of their day. The bigger problems are inside the building.
Hallways which are not designed for the numbers of students who are having to use them between classes become places of conflict. Extra time has to be built in because of the time it takes to get from one side of the campus to the other.
Cafeterias are stretched for more students than they are designed for. Students are sitting down for lunch in some cases at late morning so that enough lunch times can be scheduled. Media centers which are required to have a certain number of books per student are stretched for space for all of the books.
There’s a most important concept to Princeton that’s a part of the bond issue. There’s a fundamental belief that education is enhanced in a smaller school. When students become numbers who won’t get a chance to play varsity sports or be student body president or when teachers can’t have a meaningful student-teacher relationship with every student because there are too many more, there’s something wrong with that picture.
I have friends who are on staff at West Johnston, and the discipline problems they have to face in addition to the normal ones are staggering. The root of those problems come from a school with too many kids.
This bond issue doesn’t endorse building Princeton-size high schools across the county, but it does endorse staying away from mega-size schools in Johnston County.
Yes, we have something directly to gain from the passage of the school bond, as overcrowding on our campus will be relieved by the new elementary school this bond will fund. We also benefit when more students stay in school and are prepared to be meaningful contributors to our society, whether they live in Princeton or somewhere else in Johnston County. Our neighbors’ problems will be on our doorstep someday.
I appreciate the planning and the conservative approach of county commissioners. While I have heard some in the county complain that we can’t continue to pass bond issues and expect the taxpayers to pay the bill, bond issues are precisely the current taxpayers’ best friend.
With more people moving into the county buying homes, it takes several years for enough tax revenue to come in from them to pay the current costs of providing schools and other services for their children. Rather than shifting that burden to current taxpayers alone, the bond issue allows those new taxpayers to more fully participate in paying the bills they are bringing the county to pay.
Some may say there should be alternatives to property taxes, and many will agree, that is the best we currently have available.
While school officials will tell you they would have liked to have had some more money in this bond issue, they appreciate the county’s commitment to finance schools at a rate that will not require additional taxes.
Part of that commitment also extends to trying to take care of other needs in the county. As more students turn to our community college for vocational training and preparatory classes for a four year degree, we need to maintain and improve their facilities. This bond will help address those needs.
Our recreation programs in the county are volunteer driven, but they need support in helping meet the high costs of facilities and their maintenance. Certainly we appreciate the benefits of parental involvement with their children, the positive alternative to more hours of television and video games, and the fulfillment athletics can bring as an alternative to drugs and alcohol. This support is needed.
The biggest concern that county officials have is good people will not take the time to cast their ballots. Polls will open early and stay open late, and most of the time you can be in and out in five minutes.
In addition to passage, we are hopeful that we will continue to pass bond issues by a strong margin. This won’t be the last one put before voters as there are other pressing needs. We need to continue to say to the county we endorse bonds to pay for growth, and we encourage them to continue using them in this way.
Thank you for taking the time.