With this revival, it is time for voters to get behind and usher into passage a supplemental school tax to help the system make this renaissance complete.
Don’t believe the naysayers trying to mislead you with bloated numbers and sky is falling fearmongering.
The school board, should this tax be passed, is asking for 10 cents per $100.
While by law they could go as a high as 50 cents, the school board members we have interviewed and those who support the initiative stand firm at the 10 cents per $100 number.
Roanoke Rapids and Weldon have enjoyed a supplemental tax for some 40 years now. We believe it’s only fair the county school system should have the same advantage.
Four years ago we would have said no to this same referendum, which was then soundly defeated.
But much has changed since 2012.
There is a renewed sense of confidence in the leadership new Superintendent Eric Cunningham plans to provide.
Better foundations were built under the leadership of former Superintendent Elease Frederick as well as leadership from the state Department of Public Instruction which took over a system floundering in fiscal mismanagement and habitually low-performing schools.
Audits are coming back clean and just last month the school system was taken off the state’s list of low-performing schools.
Cunningham and his staff announced Tuesday under Frederick’s watch the school system received a key accreditation based on all the aforementioned factors which translate to accountability, where four years ago that accolade was a word rarely used when discussing Halifax County Schools.
The overwhelming population, it seems, has looked at the county school system as a street urchin from a Charles Dickens novel.
Now it is slowly, we believe, turning into a Cinderella story where the stepchild once looked at with scorn is blossoming.
We take the recent achievements of the school system, the school system which bears our county’s name, as a source of pride.
Now it’s time to reward the system for its improvement and help it achieve more.
The 10 cents will raise approximately $1.6 million for the school system.
The money would be used for providing extra teachers, additional technology and signing bonuses to help qualified teachers stay here.
Halifax County Schools is currently ranked 114 out of 115 in local funding, Roanoke Rapids is 69 and Weldon is 10.
To be the flagship system in our county it deserves better and we believe it’s time for the voters to realize this district is just as important to our educational and economic well-being as Roanoke Rapids and Weldon.
Children attending the county school system should be considered as important as those attending the other two districts as well as charter schools.
Halifax County schools has spent $775,000 for children attending charter schools, a huge amount squandered which in light of this revival could stay within their own school district.
We believe in this renaissance coming to the county school system and we believe the supplemental school tax will be the new blood it needs to make this revival complete — Editor