CATAWBA COUNTY, N.C. — The Catawba County Board of Commissioners is hosting a series of school community conversations to discuss merging three school districts into a single countywide district.
What You Need To Know
- Catawba County is hosting four community conversations to discuss a potential school district merger due to funding needs
- The merger would combine Catawba County Schools, Hickory City Schools and Newton-Conover Schools into one countywide district
- The proposal comes after the county says both Hickory City Schools and Newtown-Conover Schools have experienced enrollment decline while Catawba County Schools’ enrollment has increased
- While some parents are OK with the merger, others are concerned about the impact of the change
The school districts are Newton-Conover City Schools, Hickory City Schools and Catawba County Schools.
According to the county, Catawba County Schools are experiencing an increase in student enrollment, leading to a demand for more school classroom capacity. Meanwhile, Newton-Conover City Schools and Hickory City Schools have experienced a decline in enrollment and underutilization in school facilities. The county said the student loss could cause both city districts to continue losing state operating budget.
Catawba County Chairman Randy Isenhower said the conversations about merging some school districts in the county started last year after Newton-Conover City Schools indicated the district was experiencing funding issues. Isenhower added this prompted a deeper analysis of enrollment trends in the districts and capital needs at Catawba County Schools. Initially, a merger between these two districts was discussed, but it was expanded to the three districts since the county can’t force a merger of two systems, and Newton-Conover City Schools opposed it.
“We did the same study with Hickory to see also that there are some empty seats in Hickory, which could alleviate capacity and could alleviate capital spending on part of the county,” Isenhower said.
According to Isenhower, there is an immediate need for action on the matter.
“We’re paying $2 million a year, $1.9 million a year for mobile classrooms in the county. We don’t want to keep doing that, so if we can start to alleviate these capital funding pressures in the county, we say that amount of money,” Isenhower said.
During a community conversation in Maiden on Tuesday, officials said the merger would create immediate capital cost savings of nearly $62 million. In addition, they mentioned without the merger, a county tax increase will be needed to fund school capital and construction needs. However, the merger would reduce the tax increase needed.
Hickory City Schools and Newton-Conover City Schools are opposed to the proposed merger.
The Newton-Conover City Schools Board of Education had released a resolution in June when the proposal involved two school districts. The newly added district, Hickory City Schools, released a resolution this week against the merger.
According to Hickory City Schools, examples across North Carolina show mergers have failed to deliver cost savings and have increased expenses for local taxpayers. In a statement, the district listed higher local costs, reduced state and federal funding, student disruption and loss of local voice as some of the concerns related to the potential merger.
“This is not just a financial issue — it’s about what is best for kids,” said Jennifer Griffin, superintendent of Hickory City Schools. “Smaller, community-centered districts are more responsive, more personal, and better able to serve the unique needs of their students. A merger would take that away while raising costs for taxpayers.”
While some parents are OK with the merger, Heather Davis, with children in Hickory City Schools, is not in favor of it at the moment.
She attended the first community meeting in Maiden and said while the presentation was informative, she still had unanswered questions.
“Hickory has made that a priority to keep our schools diverse in the rich learning environment. And my concern is that the county may not be as racially diverse because it’s the county. More of that seems concentrated within the city,” Davis said.
In addition, she worries about the makeup of a future board of education.
“I think it’s important that if the merger were to happen, that all the districts that are represented, that the new board, I would want the new board to really equalize that out as much as possible so that voices from the city and county can be heard so that the board represents districts instead of just one,” Davis said.
Catawba County Schools has not issued a resolution about its position regarding the merger.
“Physically, it makes sense to merge according to the numbers they have shown us [Tuesday] and what their plan is,” Catawba County Board of Education Chair Tim Settlemyre said.
However, Catawba County Schools passed a resolution to maintain the district’s current legal and geographical boundaries. This comes as community members have mentioned changes of boundaries as an alternative to merging districts.
The county said Tuesday that the North Carolina General Assembly is the only authority to make that decision, which it says would take away local control, and it would be a temporary fix.
Settlemyre said if the merger does happen, the Catawba County Board of Education is OK with that.
“A lot of our schools are overcrowded. Our elementary schools, especially, when we sent the [commissioners] the $485 million plan. That plan was to ship sixth grade to middle schools, which would alleviate some of that. But also to make additions to the elementary schools that need it, like conditions of the middle schools that need it. Most of our high schools were built in the ’50s, all but one, and it was built in 2006,” Settlemyre said.
During the presentation, the county emphasized the majority of the students from the merger will move from Catawba County to current HCS and NCCS schools to fill empty seats.
The Board of Commissioners is hosting the community meetings first and then will decide whether to start the process to formally propose a merger. The merger proposal must be initiated by the Board of Commissioners and then approved by the Board of Education. It must combine all three districts because the county lacks the authority to merge two of the three and it requires a public hearing and a proposed merger plan.
The next community meetings are:
Oct. 23
6-8 p.m.
Rehobeth United Methodist Church
9297 Sherrills Ford Road, Terrell
Oct. 28
6-8 p.m.
Conover Station Community Room (first floor)
409 Fourth St. SE, Conover
Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.
