It’s time to talk about redistricting again, Rowan-Salisbury School Board Chairman Josh Wagner said Monday.

A future board wouldn’t have the will or ability to take action on redistricting, Wagner said.

But suggestion requires question: Does this school board have the will or ability to take action? Will the board make a decision or simply raise the specter of school closures, worrying parents and students, and back off later?

The school board has considered too many scenarios with no solution to do the same thing again. Nearly one year ago, the school system released a multi-tiered plan that appears to have gone nowhere. They asked a consultant to create redistricting scenarios, too, and haven’t chosen to move forward with any of them.

Perhaps the answer is “Yes. This school board has the will to take action.” After all, it has money from county commissioners to ease tough financial decisions and ensure that redistricting isn’t solely moving students from one old building to another. County commissioners have promised $75 million for capital projects over two years, including the current fiscal year, and the possibility of $10 million in grant funding to defray the cost of a consolidated, southern Rowan elementary school.

Meanwhile, the school system will already need to complete a temporary redistricting as a result of $26 million in approved renovations to Knox Middle School. That redistricting may have to occur in short order if the school system hopes to give parents enough notice about whether their kids could end up next year.  (While funding has been approved, the year in which students are displaced has not yet been finalized. That students will need to be moved is already certain.)

Next, particularly if the school board receives grant funding to build a new elementary school in southern Rowan County, the board could design district lines that include the closure of Enochville, China Grove and Landis elementary schools while adding students to Millbridge and Knollwood. That’s according to a plan presented late last year and involving the construction of a South Rowan Elementary School between China Grove and Landis.

Those two — redistricting for Knox and a future southern Rowan elementary school — are relatively easy compared to previous closure debates about Faith and North Rowan. Students would be redistricted with a newer, nicer school in their future. Though, some would be redistricted and move on to the next level — middle and high school —without stepping foot in the new facilities.

What comes after Knox and a south Rowan elementary is not as clear. Will the school board revisit the closure of Faith? Will the consolidation of multiple schools in the south Rowan area bring RSS close enough to capacity to stave off further closures?

Ultimately, that’s the decision school board members need to make — what comes next?

We think school board members have the will and ability to redistrict for Knox and a South Rowan Elementary School. Whether the same is true elsewhere in the county is not clear. More than once, strong opposition has proved enough to prevent a decision by school board members.