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An in-depth look at our region's emerging economic, social, political and cultural identity.

Bond Package Won't Fund All CMS, CPCC Building Projects

The CMS school board tonight will ask the county to finance a bunch of building projects over the next few years.  It could come out to about $400 million.  Central Piedmont Community College has a similar request.  But the county is only willing to put together a bond referendum for half that amount. 

County Finance Director Dena Diorio says the county uses nine different criteria for deciding which projects get priority. 

“We look at funding source.  In the event that your project is not fully funded by the county, but has other funding sources, you get points for that.  We look at growth.  So in areas of the county where we’ve seen large population growth, projects that are sitting in high-growth areas would get points for that,” explains Diorio. 

CMS has asked for money to build several new schools across the county, including a few pre-k-8 schools and a high school magnet focusing on math and science.  At the top of the district’s list, is money to renovate and open two schools that were closed a couple years ago. 

CPCC wants money to buy land to expand several of its campuses, renovate a science lab on the central campus as well as several other buildings on different campuses.  CPCC says enrollment has increased 35 percent since 2005 and the college doesn’t have enough space to comfortably accommodate all of its students.  

Lisa Worf traded the Midwest for Charlotte in 2006 to take a job at WFAE. She worked with public TV in Detroit and taught English in Austria before making her way to radio. Lisa graduated from University of Chicago with a bachelor’s degree in English.