Cabarrus County is growing, and that puts pressure on the district’s 44 schools. On that much, at least, every Cabarrus County school board candidate agrees.
“We have 35,000 kids and we're continuing to grow, and some of our classrooms and some of our schools have seen capacity over 100%,” said Mishell Williams, a Democrat running for one of the three open seats on the CCS school board.
State data show the district’s enrollment is up about 9% since 2017. While enrollment declined in most North Carolina school districts last year, it stayed flat in Cabarrus, and the district projects increases. It capped enrollment at two schools this year.
Growth and its consequences are driving an unusually heated campaign for the Cabarrus County school board. Change is guaranteed: Six candidates are running for three seats, and two of three incumbents declined to seek reelection.
Williams is running alongside fellow Democrats Courtney Steinberg and incumbent Pam Escobar and Republicans Robert Kirk, William Barbee and Bubba Hartsell. Barbee and Hartsell didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment.
Whoever wins will have to help the district navigate that growth. That means new schools and updates to the district’s aging facilities. Williams, a mom of three and a teacher with CCS experience, says growth feeds another issue that all four candidates interviewed flagged: teacher retention and recruitment.
Williams said teachers struggle to make ends meet. She wants to request higher salary supplements from Cabarrus County and collect data to improve teacher working conditions. But overcrowding plays a role, too.
“It's really important that we address the growth and we make sure that even when you think about the fact that some teachers may leave because of them being so overwhelmed because their class size is too large,” Williams said. “So it kind of goes hand in hand.”
Escobar is a former reporter, a district parent and the only incumbent who’s running. She notes that she voted to support the construction of new schools. She and Williams said the district needs to make better use of demographic data in long-term planning.
“I would just hope that, again, we have leaders both at the municipal level and at the county level who are working with us to review that information so that when we're building or that we're focusing on the places with the growth,” Escobar said. “In North Carolina as a state, we tend to be reactionary instead of forward-thinking.”
Kirk served in the Navy and worked in the private sector before becoming a teacher, principal and eventually chief of staff at CCS. He also wants the system to plan aggressively for growth but take it a step further: Acquire land now as the county continues to attract development.
“That's really a sleeper issue that we can't wake up one morning and decide to build,” Kirk said. “We’ve got to acquire the land and let it sit fallow if need be until the need is there.”
Every candidate who spoke to WFAE also wants a better relationship with Cabarrus County commissioners. During the district’s last budget process, commissioners refused to hear the district’s full budget request, claiming it was too high. They ultimately approved a budget far below what the district asked for.
Courtney Steinberg is a parent, volunteer and community organizer. She says through her activism, she has a relationship with nearly every commissioner.
“I'll be able to chat with them, talk with them truly about what our needs are,” Steinberg said. “I don't think the commission handled it right this year. I do think as a school board, it's our role to show them what we need, not to fit within what they say they're going to give us at first, but to show them truly what our needs are going to be in this district.”
Kirk said he would do more to bring commissioners into the conversation before budget season.
“There should have been no surprise this spring when that event happened between Cabarrus County Schools and the commissioners,” Kirk said. “You can't build trust in a silo. You've got to have coffees together. You’ve got to talk through things and if there's disagreements and there's got to be an understanding: If I’m coming to you, this isn’t a want, this is a need.”
Escobar, a Democrat, said she was “really shocked and surprised” by the commission and said she’d like to see change on the all-Republican board, which has three seats in play this year. Funding and teacher pay are the biggest issues in CCS, she argues, but much of that is out of the school district’s control.
“I do think we need people at all levels of government who understand the importance of public schools,” Escobar said.
But she also said the relationship has improved. She points to district and county staff collaboration to get a $340 million bond on the ballot this year.
That bond would begin to address growth concerns. It would fund a replacement high school and tackle deferred maintenance projects across the district. It also includes funding for Kannapolis City Schools. A separate bond for $60 million would go to Rowan-Cabarrus Community College.
Williams, Kirk and Steinberg all said they support the bond. Escobar said that as a sitting board member, she wanted to be cautious about taking a firm stance. In interviews with the Cabarrus Compass, Barbee has said he supports the bond, while Hartsell has questioned the amount.
Both Steinberg and Kirk said the district has deferred too many maintenance projects. Steinberg argued that the system could avoid costly bond issues with more regular maintenance.
“We're also going to have to make sure that we, going forward, don't continue to defer maintenance on these schools,” Steinberg said. “We can't dig ourselves into another hole like we've been in right now.”
It’s only the second-ever partisan school board race in Cabarrus County. Every candidate acknowledged that partisan politics might come into play. One issue has made headlines in recent months: CCS faces a federal investigation and multiple lawsuits for allowing transgender students to use bathrooms that align with their identified genders.
All four candidates said CCS has to follow the law, but each identified a slightly different path. CCS has said the district complies with a federal court ruling that protects transgender students’ access to bathrooms. Williams said she believes going against the law would bring risk. Steinberg said she thinks the issue has been sensationalized at students' expense. Escobar talked about making sure all students feel welcomed. Kirk promoted gender-neutral bathrooms. He argues public schools must accommodate all students’ needs, including transgender students.
Barbee has acknowledged the legal challenges while arguing that biological sex should guide bathroom usage. Hartsell has said it’s “common sense” to keep biological males out of girls’ bathrooms.
