Minutes - 19941210 - Laserfiche WebLink

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2 the School Boards for 1995 and that they will talk about standards. His concern is that they will agree on standards, then the citizens will not want to pay for them. He would like the schools to take the lead on this and set the standards together. Commissioner Halkiotis said that he would like to address aesthetics and what is pleasing to the eye compared to what is practical and affordable. A lot of construction is done with the same blueprint and many counties are using the same plans for elementary schools and have saved money by doing this. He feels they should worry less about aesthetics and get the maximum amount of construction for the least money. Chair Carey said that the focus should be on the issues the commissioners want to address with the school boards. It should be noted that school building costs are affected by community use of the schools as well as their use for after school care, since those functions require additional storage space to allow for flexible use of classrooms. The three boards need to think of the space requirements for functions and come to an agreement on the functions desired. He asked for a facility use report from each school system which shows how many individual classrooms are being used for afterschool programs or community activities. In summary, the County Commissioners want to discuss with the two school systems (1) school functions and school standards, (2) energy consumption, (3) community use of the facilities, (4) how many students are on the waiting list for after school care, and (5) additional sources of revenue to include impact fee and impact tax, with the effect on affordable housing to be addressed. The schools may have other items they want to discuss with the County Commissioners which will be added to this list. Neil Pedersen, Superintendent of Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, noted that the decision for community use of schools has been left to the individual schools. Some teachers don't want students in their classroom after school and in other schools, the teachers have opened their classroom. With regard to the school bond issue, the total tax increase will be it cents instead of 15. This is because of lower than expected interest rates. There will be additional start-up costs for the new schools yet to open. Also, the County expects an additional 600 students for 1995-96 which will cost in per pupil expense an additional $800,000. In answer to a question from Commissioner Gordon about additional money for the new high school, John Link noted that they have committed the available funds received from sales tax for the new elementary school. Neil Pedersen said that they have conceded that some things will be cut from the original plans for the high school. They are looking at their own CIP to see where they have revenues they can use for this facility. John Link indicated that the CIP will be presented the second meeting in February and at that time he will articulate any choices there may be for additional funding and also any policy choices the County Commissioners may want to consider. With regard to private contributions, Commissioner Willhoit said that the County has the ability to provide the money, all they need is the will. He feels it is appropriate for schools to lobby for private contributions. Chair Carey emphasized that the issue is how to use the available resources more efficiently, not how to raise new sources of revenue.