The Charlotte-Mecklenburg (N.C.) school board has begun reviewing a $2 billion, 10-year plan to address needed facility upgrades in the district.
The Charlotte Observer reports that the list of proposed projects is step toward placing a bond referendum before voters. Leaders in th 146,000-student district say they would like to see a proposal on the ballot this year, but county government officials want to hold off on a school bond until 2017.
The school district last won approval of a bond referendum in 2013, when voters supported a $290 million request.
The facilities plan lays out the needs for school construction, renovation and land purchases. District staff members have ranked the proposed projects based on factors such as crowding and the condition of the buildings.
The top-ranked project: a $40 million replacement building for the Collinswood Language Academy, a K-8 school. Other highly ranked proposals: construction of a $98 million high school, a $26 million elementary, and a $17 million renovation and addition of a high school gym and cafeteria.
The plan envisions construction of elementary and high schools 20 to 25 percent larger than those Charlotte-Mecklenburg has built recently.
