District 5 commissioner candidate emphasizes commitment to schools
GREENSBORO — Democratic incumbent Guilford County Commissioner Carly Cooke is seeking reelection to the District 5 seat against Republican Reece Walker, a former member of the Summerfield Town Council.
Walker did not respond to multiple requests for an interview. Cooke sat down with the News & Record to discuss her campaign.
Cooke said she is running for a second term because of the same issue that motivated her first campaign: education.
After spending time volunteering at her children's elementary school, she came to the conclusion "that our schools are starved of the necessary resources they need to effectively prepare our children for life."
Cooke said she is proud of the progress the board has made in supporting education in the past few years, pointing the successful referendums providing $2 billion in school bond funds and the plan the county has developed for spending those funds on capital needs.
She also said she had advocated for creating a committee with the school board to give commissioners a better understanding of school board needs and school board members a better understanding of county funding constraints.
The county board voted to establish that committee earlier this year.
Along with the rest of the board, Cooke voted to put the quarter-cent sales tax increase on the ballot this year and has committed to using the funding for teacher and other school-employee pay.
Beyond education, Cooke said improving health care access for residents, including access to behavioral health and substance abuse services, is another key priority for her.
"Guilford County does a lot of work in that space to support our most vulnerable citizens. I think we will continue to work on ways to do that and to connect folks in Guilford County and make sure they are receiving the support and services that they need," Cooke said.
Cooke was among the six commissioners who voted in 2022 to keep the tax rate steady even as the county's tax base grew by nearly a third, resulting in property owners paying higher taxes in many cases.
Cooke said she made the decision because county revenues were not keeping paces with the demands for services and that the decision the board made struck a balance.
"I think there was a very measured and intentional decision to make sure that we were going to continue to support county services, county employees in a way where they could provide top notch service to our community and measuring the impact it would have on taxpayers and not taxing any more than we absolutely had to," Cooke said.
Cooke said her strengths as a commissioner include "a passion for the work and specifically to support education but also to serve Guilford County in the ways that I know we can, in the ways that I've seen have been successful and in ways that I know we can continue to grow."
Carly Cooke Background
Age:43
Job: County commissioner
Education: Master of Business Administration, UNC-Greensboro
Political/Civic Experience: Guilford County Board of Commissioners, 2020-present; Member, Guilford Education Alliance
Top Priority: Supporting and investing in public education
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