Guilford County government and Guilford County Schools officials today issued the following statements on the decision by the state Local Government Commission to approve the county’s application to issue $1.7 billion in school bonds over the next seven years:
“We are making a historical investment in our future. The LGC’s vote to approve today allows us to work in partnership with our Guilford County Schools to quickly move our schools into twenty-first century learning. Our children deserve this. Our community came out to support this. Now it’s time to get to work delivering on the direction set out by our voters for the benefit of all our school children now and well into the future.” – Board of County Commissioners Chairman Melvin “Skip” Alston.
“We are pleased the Local Government Commission approved our application to issue the voter approved $1.7 billion in school bonds to repair, rebuild, and improve our schools to handle the safety and technology needs of today. With the LGC approval the county can now move forward with our capital funding strategy. We plan to issue the bonds in three installments beginning in 2024 and ending with the last tranche in 2029. This will allow us to monitor the market for the best timing to issue the debt and align repayment with the county’s existing revenue streams. This is an important step forward to make significant impacts on the futures of our children. We know students who study in a positive learning environment have been shown to be more motivated, engaged, and have a higher overall learning ability, so these improvements are about more than just better buildings, they’re about safer, stronger learning environments for our children.” – County Manager Michael Halford.
“Today marks the culmination of years of hard work to fix our schools and the beginning of a new chapter for Guilford County Schools. I am grateful to our community for supporting our schools. For more than five years the Guilford County Board of Education, Guilford Board of County Commissioners, educators and community leaders have worked together to develop and implement master facilities plan to build, rebuild, and fully renovate schools across Guilford County .” – Guilford County Schools Superintendent Dr. Whitney Oakley.
A Joint Capital/Facilities Committee comprised of representatives from the Guilford County Board of Commissioners and Guilford County School Board will continue to meet during the implementation of the program to discuss progress on the district’s 2020 and 2022 bond-funded facilities improvements. The bonds will support projects to rebuild 18 schools, fully renovate 13 schools, construct 3 new schools, and invest more than $363 million in safety and technology upgrades for all schools.
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