In the only contested race for Concord’s school board, it’s the “budget hawk” versus the “dreamer.”
Rusty Cofrin, the incumbent candidate, said he’s balancing how the district will pay for pressing responsibilities, while his opponent, Pam Wicks, said she’s unsure if it’s possible to spend too much money on education.
“I’m a dreamer – not very practical sometimes – I have to admit,” said Wicks, who is urging that the district offer full-day kindergarten to all of its students.
Cofrin said he hasn’t decided where he’ll eventually land on the kindergarten issue, but if it’s proposed next month to start expanding early childhood education offerings at a cost of $1.2 million in the first year – and nearly $1 million in following years – he’s certain what his answer will be.
“I’ll tell you right now: I will not vote for full-day kindergarten if they insist on putting it into this year’s budget,” Cofrin said. “There’s no room, not with everything else.”
Chief among the district’s projects that fall into the “everything else” category is the unexpected need to adopt a new heat source ahead of the impending closure of Concord Steam in May. The district is expecting to spend about $9 million converting three schools to use natural gas instead, with barely enough time before the next winter sets in.
There’s also Rundlett Middle School, which is due for either a major renovation or a complete rebuild. Cofrin, who is chairman of the Capital Facilities Committee, characterized the maintenance there as “a Band-Aid approach.”
“Something’s gonna go, specifically the roof, for example,” he said.
Wicks, on the other hand, said she would prioritize full-day kindergarten above Rundlett. Although she’d prefer to do both – and the natural gas conversion – as soon as possible, she said.
“Can you spend too much money on education?” she asked the Monitor’s editorial board Tuesday, adding, “I’m like the worst person to ask these questions to. I just want it all, and I want it for all the kids in this community.”
Wicks, a mother of three elementary school-age children in the district, argued that young families prefer to move to districts with robust early childhood education programs, which she said lay a foundation that helps schools save money later on. The half-day program currently offered leaves the kids feeling rushed, she said.
She acknowledged, however, that “someone has to rein me in” when her parent-teacher association forms its budget, and she’s learned to be more cautious from that experience.
“I tend to be a big dreamer and a big spender, but I also feel like I can listen and know when it’s just not going to work,” she said.
For his part, Cofrin described himself as a “budget hawk.” He said the district would have to take out a bond if it wanted to start offering full-day kindergarten next year.
“Once you fire that gun, you have to pay for it every year,” he said. “I’m adamantly against pushing full-day kindergarten forward this budget season. We just don’t have the money, and I don’t want to bond for it.”
He said the budgeting process takes time to learn, but he’s already helped to rein in spending in his time on the negotiations committee, when the Concord Education Association sought a three-year contract with 14 percent raises each year.
“I was like, ‘That’s not gonna happen,’ ” he said.
Cofrin said he’ll look out for the taxpayers. Wicks said she has “no issues with my tax dollars going to education.”
“I encourage the naysayers to think of it not as, ‘Oh, my taxes are going up,’ but think of it as, ‘This is an investment in our kids and our future.’ That’s how I word it,” she said.
School board incumbents Jennifer Patterson and Jim Richards are running uncontested for re-election.
(Nick Reid can be reached at 369-3325, nreid@cmonitor.com or on Twitter at @NickBReid.)