Editorials - 11/02/00

Higher education bond merits support

This bond is about all of North Carolina's children, and about the quality of the education that will be offered to them by our state university system and community colleges. It's about refurbishing and modernizing wonderful old buildings, and it's about building some new ones to accommodate a systemwide 48,000-student increase.

The 16 campuses that comprise the University of North Carolina system have for years been a point of pride for our state. Our longstanding tradition of high-quality education at bargain rates must be continued in the face of anticipated increases in college-age students. Our children still in public school have a right to the same quality of education enjoyed by the generations that preceded them.

While we cringe at the sheer enormity of the $3.1 billion price tag, we are somewhat reassured that our very conservative state treasurer, Harlan Boyles, sees this commitment as "fiscally responsible," and said that, barring unforseen disaster, it will not affect tax rates.

Though we might wish for an opportunity to vote only on the funds needed for renovations and upgrades, this is the package we have been given by the Legislature. And if their student projections are accurate, the new facilities will be needed to ensure that all Tar Heel high school graduates have an opportunity to realize their potential.

Not everyone who leads a successful life was a top student in high school. A number of mediocre students wind up making a big splash in college, and there needs to be a place for these late-bloomers in our tax-supported institutions of higher learning. Passage of this bond will help keep our strong public universities from becoming exclusive clubs with too-rigid admission standards.

Moving closer to home, a vote for the higher education bond is a vote for the expansion of Jackson County's economic base. As County Manager Jay Denton pointed out, "This county is in the education business."

What kind of growth could be "smarter" than that built around community colleges and state universities? More students mean more faculty positions, and more faculty positions mean more staff positions. That's the way it works. A college education will ready our Jackson County students for the better jobs that will come through the growth of Western Carolina University and Southwestern Community College - and keep them in the mountains.

It's a lot of money, this $3.1 billion, but it's earmarked for a lot of kids. Our kids. And their future. We think they're worth it.

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