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GREENSBORO — The Guilford County Board of Education approved the final $457 million school construction list for a proposed May bond referendum Tuesday night.

Some school board members think the bond list is too costly. Is it? Join the discussion at the Debatables blog.

Despite the 8-3 vote, it was clear that few board members were pleased with the list. Several asked the school system staff to continue to reduce construction costs wherever possible.

"The bottom line is: This is the public money. We need to build schools as efficiently as possible. I am just concerned that these numbers are too high," board member Darlene Garrett said.

Board members Garrett, Amos Quick and Deena Hayes voted against the measure.

The issue now goes to the Guilford County Board of Commissioners for approval. The commissioners have until January to schedule a referendum with the election board for the May ballot.

The $457 million project list will cover more than two dozen construction and renovation projects, as well as the purchase of land for future schools.

Despite some last minute reconsideration by the school board, the project list does not include an autism wing at a smaller Jamestown Middle School.

The school board members expressed some pessimism about the bond's chances with voters in May.

"As a voter, I have a hard time buying it myself. But as a parent and responsible citizen, I have a hard time not buying it," board member Garth Hebert said.

He asked school officials to look for cost savings on the projects.

In other news, local arts advocates, Greensboro educators and one talented sixth-grader packed the school board's meeting room to argue for extending arts education in the district.

School officials cut the number of art and music classes in some elementary schools this year to add Spanish classes.

The district also cut art and music classes to expand reading and math instruction time at the middle school level and eliminated an arts coordinator job.

The arts advocates said research shows that education in music and art can improve students' achievement in other areas of study.

"The arts are what develop total human beings," said Maryhelen Mayfield, executive director of the Greensboro Ballet.

She told the board how music education helped her in math. "The arts are what let us communicate with other cultures despite our differences."

Brent Davis, Mendenhall Middle School band director, said that music is considered a core academic subject under the federal No Child Left Behind law.

"I would not be here teaching in your school district and enjoying every single day of it, if it weren't for my middle school band director," Davis told the school board. "That is why art is very important in our schools. It has a lot to give our students right now."

Charlotte Mannerstrale, a sixth-grader at The Academy at Lincoln, joined the chorus of adults asking that the school board expand art education in the schools.

She said her elementary school music teacher inspired her to study singing.

To prove her point, she sang "I Got the Sun in the Morning" from "Annie Get Your Gun" - after which Chairman Alan Duncan briefly waived his no-clapping policy.

Duncan said the board plans to address the arts issues at its Dec. 20 meeting.

In other business Tuesday:

* School board members approved the 2008-2009 school year calendar. School will begin Aug. 26, 2008, and end June 10, 2009. The two-week winter break will begin on Dec. 22. Spring break will begin on April 13.

* Duncan said the school district has accepted a final $17 million insurance settlement for Eastern Guilford High School. The school was destroyed by arson Nov. 1, 2006.

Contact Amanda Lehmert at 334-7075 or amanda.lehmert@news-record.com