Steve Mensing, Editor
♦ N.C. House Bill 726, introduced Tuesday in the state legislature, will allow decisions by the county commissioners as the final step in allocating school system funding. This bill will likely be a large favorite with county taxpayers across the state and has bipartisan support. It promises to take high-paid lawyers out of the mix well known for running up expensive bills and extending mediations. Without legal teams in the mix, it will be like a couple undergoing a civil divorce mediation without divorce lawyers larding their accounts, raising vitriol between two formerly loving people, and running up the mediation clock for maximum benefit.
House Bill 726:
http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/Sessions/2015/Bills/House/PDF/H726v0.pdf
If House Bill 726 becomes law, school boards would no longer be able to gain additional funding through lawsuits. House Bill 726 would permit mediator facilitated joint meetings between county commissioners and school boards, yet it wouldn’t allow lawyers into the mix. Consider all the county taxpayer money lost and unnecessary rancor stirred up by the presence of lawyers in last year’s budgetary dispute between the county commissioners and the school board. It was clear, when the dispute finally ended, the biggest winners were the attorneys.
Yesterday House Bill 726 sailed through its first reading and was sent to the judiciary II committee.
House Bill 726 states: “If no agreement is reached at the joint meeting of the two boards, the decision of the county commissioners is final. The local board of education shall not file any legal action challenging the sufficiency of the funds appropriated by the board of county commissioners to the local current expense fund, the capital outlay fund, or both.”
Employing a skilled independent mediator as a go between two amicable bodies with the knowledge that both sides may have differing views about spending needs is an excellent idea. Lawyers tend to heat up proceedings with blame casting, demandingness, wrangling, and stretching out the clock. During last years county commissioner–school board dispute, the lawyers appeared to make both sides dig in. Some county commissioners were so ticked off they voiced that going to court might be the better move.
Better suited to keep the heat out of negotiations and on target would be the use of the Joint Planning Committee that came into being after last years mediation. Such committee meetings could pave the way for both sides better understanding education’s actual needs and what county taxpayers can bare. Bottom line: counties like Rowan only have so much money. It is important that the state adequately fund the school systems. Local taxpayers need to be considered. What are the school’s highest educational priorities and how can they be reasonably fulfilled? These things can better be sorted out without interference from a legal third party.
