GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
1993 SESSION

CHAPTER 128
SENATE BILL 666

AN ACT TO EXEMPT THE WINSTON-SALEM/FORSYTH COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION AND THE FORSYTH COUNTY COMMISSIONERS "DOWNTOWN SCHOOL" PROJECT FROM CERTAIN STATUTORY REQUIREMENTS.

Whereas, the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Board of Education is the recipient of a Next Century Schools grant to develop an integrated learning center for children ages 3-11 on the site of or near a successful business;
Whereas, the learning center, now known as the Downtown School, began its first year of operation during the 1991-92 school year in leased premises located in the Old City Market Building in the downtown business district in the City of Winston-Salem, North Carolina;
Whereas, the Board of Education elected to lease the premises for this innovative educational program for the following reasons:
(1)	The program is experimental and is being implemented incrementally;
(2)	Before making the long-term financial commitment of purchasing a site and constructing a facility for the program, the Board wanted to evaluate the quality of the program; and
(3)	The availability of sites for a school in the downtown area of the City of Winston-Salem is limited;
Whereas, the premises that the Board is leasing for the Downtown School can not accommodate the third year expansion of the program;
Whereas, the owner of the premises being leased to the Board of Education for the Downtown School has expended considerable sums renovating the lower floor of the Old City Market Building, for public school purposes; has offered to construct the additional space needed to expand the Downtown School on the same site; and has offered to lease the premises to the Board of Education for a term of 20 years at a fixed rate with the Board of Education having the option to purchase the leased premises plus the entire Old City Market Building at a fixed price after the seventh year of the lease and each year thereafter through and to the twentieth year of the lease; and
Whereas, the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Board of Education and the Board of Forsyth County Commissioners have entered into the lease-purchase agreement with the owner of the Old City Market Building under the provisions of N.C.G.S. § 115C-441(c1) as a Continuing Contract for Capital Outlay.  Now, therefore,

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

Section 1.  The provisions of G.S. 115C-521(d), 143-128, 143-129, 143-131 and 143-132 shall not apply to the Downtown School project of both the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Board of Education and the Board of Forsyth County Commissioners.
Sec. 2.  This act is effective upon ratification.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 8th day of June, 1993.

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Dennis A. Wicker
President of the Senate

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Daniel Blue, Jr.
Speaker of the House of Representatives