Dear Governors Hunt, Holshouser, Martin and Scott:

I want to take this opportunity to commend your joint efforts to pass the critical university and community college bonds this fall ñ and to reiterate how important the bondsí passage is to North Carolinaís economic future.

First, I want to state clearly that passage of the bonds will not mean we have to raise taxes. Some critics of public education have argued otherwise. But the truth is, this state can afford it. You can see from the enclosed that even with these bonds, North Carolinaís debt service will still rank low compared to other states.

In fact, the bonds will significantly ease the burden of local county governments when it comes to upgrading community colleges. County governments have historically borne the lionís share of the facility improvements at community colleges. With these bonds, that burden will be significantly reduced.

In my 23 years as State Treasurer, I have seen few bond issues as critical to the stateís future prosperity as this one. It is no exaggeration to say that the upgrading, renovation and construction that will occur at each of the 59 community college facilities and all 16 UNC campuses will directly and indirectly benefit the lives and livelihoods of millions of North Carolinians.

Without these bonds, North Carolina stands to lose the competitive edge has helped attract new jobs to the state. Inadequate facilities at community colleges mean that many students cannot take advantage of job training and retraining opportunities. And that means companies depending on industry-specific training will look elsewhere. At our universities, students competing for international jobs are being trained in woefully outdated technology, computer and science labs.

In sum, failure to pass the bonds will mean lost educational opportunities and lost economic opportunities.

Finally, I want to pint out that the return on the investments from these bonds will far outweigh their costs. In fact, the bond rating agencies consider the condition of our university facilities when determining a rating for our state. Continued deterioration of those facilities could adversely affect the stateís bond rating.

Thank you once again for your leadership on this important issue. Please let me know what I can do to assist in securing the approval of the community college and university bonds.

State Treasurer Harlan Boyles