Agenda - 03-11-1985 - Laserfiche WebLink

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SPECIAL CHARTERED SCHOOL DISTRICTS IN NORTH CAROLINA The existing special chartered school districts in North Carolina date back to 1881 when the Goldsboro district was chartered. The next special districts to be chartered were Reidsville and Durham, which were chartered in 1887. Madison-Mayodan (now western Rockingham), chartered in 1957, was the last special school district to be established in North Carolina. Special chartered school districts came into being because citizens, particularly those in urban areas, wished to provide more opportunities for their children than were available from the county administrative units. The county commissioners were authorized, by referendum or special legislation, to levy a current expense supplementary tax for these districts. This special tax was. used to supplement salaries, employ additional staff members, purchase instructional supplies, and generally improve educational opportunities. Through the years, many boards of county commissioners have denied requests or the local boards of education have failed to make requests for the supplemental levies. For the school year 1983-84, only 29 of the 42 special chartered school districts had supplemental levies for current expense. While the chartering of special school districts continued until 1957, the merging of school districts began with Charlotte/Mecklenburg in 1960. At that time North Carolina had 174 admin- istrative units, or 74 special chartered school districts. The most recent merger occurred on July 1, 1983, when Concord merged with the Cabarrus County school -system. On July 1, 1985, Fayetteville will merge with Cumberland County, and North Carolina will have 41 special chartered districts. I