School construction and facility needs continue to be a major concern for North Carolina school districts and communities especially in Moore County. School facilities are generally the responsibility of local school districts. While 96 percent of funds for school facilities are local funds, only 4 percent of the total funding comes from state and federal resources.
Since 1995, there have been 98 local bond issues that have passed. The total value of passed bonds for North Carolina has been $11.29 billion. However, 21 bond issues were defeated with a value of $2.05 billion.
The Average Daily Membership Fund (ADM) and the NC Education Lottery are recent state resources with the ADM’s last allocated funds of $1.6 million in 2015-16, and the lottery allocated $105 million in 2015-16. Recent legislation established a Blue Ribbon Commission, and the commission recommended that the General Assembly not only fund new construction, but fund repairs and renovations as well. In addition, the Blue Ribbon Commission suggested that the General Assembly recognize hardships of rural communities in funding schools, and develop a uniform system to determine cost efficiency to build, lease, or renovate state buildings.
Several bills have been introduced in the 2017 legislative session to address the issue of school construction with the most successful attempt being the inclusion of $30 million in the budget to provide districts of need with local grants. The $100 million lottery fund for school construction is still in effect.
