The New Hanover Community Endowment plans to grant $116 million over 10 years to New Hanover County to improve school facilities, which would boost county officials' plan for a more than $320 million school bond, according to an announcement Thursday.

The endowment grant is contingent upon the bond proposal moving forward and gaining voter approval in November.

New Hanover County proposed the school bond in 2025, which would fund school improvements at New Hanover High School, the construction of a new elementary school in the Riverlights area and two new facilities to replace Trask Middle School and Pine Valley Elementary School, among other projects.

“The Endowment's investment is contingent on the county's ability to secure funding for this ambitious initiative," said Sophie Dagenais, CEO and president of the endowment, Thursday morning. "And when the county is successful in doing that … the endowment will jump in and will invest alongside all of New Hanover County in this impressive plan.”

The endowment funds would be disbursed equally over 10 years, Dagenais said.

If approved in the voter referendum, the county would issue $320 million in general obligation bonds to finance a school improvement and capital modernization plan. The New Hanover County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved their intent to apply to the Local Government Commission in April; pending that approval, the county commissioners will hold a public hearing on June 1.

New Hanover County officials previously said before today's announcement that the proposed bond, if passed, would result in an estimated increase of 1.75-cent per $100 of valuation in the property tax rate for 10 years, with the improvement plan expected to begin in 2028. The endowment grant would reduce the proposed tax rate increase to 0.50 cents. 

“I do believe this is the kind of partnership the community hoped for when the endowment was established,” said Chris Coudriet, county manager at the press conference. “And I can say definitively it is exactly the kind of partnership the County Commission imagined when it made the decision to create the New Hanover Community Endowment.”

According to an April meeting, the expected project list for the school improvement plan is as follows:

• $94 million for the construction of a new Trask Middle School
• $59 million for phase one of New Hanover High School's master plan
• $56 million for the replacement of a Pine Valley Elementary school building
• $53 million for a new elementary school in Riverlights
• $40 million for district-wide equipment replacement and improvements
• $8 million for program management and contingency
• $7 milllion for a building addition at Porters Neck Elementary School 

According to a New Hanover County spokesperson, endowment funding will not change the projected cost estimates.

"The grant affects the financing and anticipated tax impact, not the estimated cost of the projects themselves," the spokesperson said. 
 
Regarding how the funds will be distributed in accordance with the county's school improvement plan, officials said the grant can be applied to debt service, direct project costs or project administration, rather than being tied to any one project. 

“The partnership that we've reached is actually also predicated on flexibility," Coudriet said. "The endowment did not say to the county or to the school district, ‘You will use endowment dollars on ‘X’, ‘Y’ and ‘Z.’ Instead, they took the perspective and the position that this is a community-wide endeavor.”

According to a memorandum of understanding between the endowment and New Hanover County, the county may use the grant to fund school initiative-specific projects or to repay the $320 million bond. You can read the full memorandum of understanding here.