CMS Board Could Impact Value of Your Home
CHARLOTTE, N.C.- “They ended up in Union County.” Get ready to hear those six words a lot more often.
Real estate broker Michelle Eubank says just the talk of redrawing school boundaries is enough to send her home-buying clients out of Mecklenburg. Eubank says, “They want to know that wherever they end up, they’re going to be able to spend the next 8 – 10 years, raise their families and invest in a school and make roots in that school, not have it get uprooted.” Β Β
CMS leaders say they want to diversify schools. They’ve talked about doing that through both voluntary and forced busing to assigned and magnet schools.Β That, critics argue, de-stabilizes residential real estate markets, among other things.
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The Providence Plantation Home Owners Association in southeast Charlotte sent out an email to homeowners, urging them to vote and reading in part, “Even if you don’t have school-aged children, these decisions could affect you and the property values in our neighborhood.” Β Β
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WCCB Charlotte surveyed the nine at-large school board candidates two weeks ago and again Friday on whether they support busing. Current board chair Mary McCray and candidate Amelia Stinson-Wesley still declined to answer. Β Angela Ambroise has said she’s “not necessarily against busing.” Janeen Bryant says she “doesn’t think mandatory busing is the only answer.”Β Current member at-large Ericka Ellis-Stewart says she is “not advocating for a return to busing.”
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Jeremy Stephenson, Larry Bumgarner, Elyse Dashew and Levester Flowers say they do not support busing.Β
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School assignment is essential to home buyers. Eubank says her clients are no different. She says, “I actually just had a client go under contract, they were asking me how likely it is that the schools are gonna change.”Β
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CMS has also proposed spending an additional $6 million to provide both neighborhood and shuttle stops for magnet school students. The election is Tuesday.
