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Commissioner Carey agreed that standards would need to be established prior to planning for a new high school. Commissioner Gordon asked if there was consensus that the County and School Boards form a High School Standards Task Force to discuss and suggest official standards. She also felt that this group could develop a basic tier for existing schools as well. Although it would cost additional money she felt that applying the basic standards for new schools to existing schools was the right thing to do. These standards would be useful even if some schools were not able to meet them because of existing situations at the facility. Commissioner Brown mentioned that having a sufficient budget for repairs is critical for existing schools. School Board member Susan Dovenbarger agreed. She mentioned that some of the schools have fallen behind in maintenance and need to have extensive work done. Commissioner Halkiotis mentioned that there are factors involved in building schools that need to be considered before they are built and having partnership before the work is started could save money and prevent problems. He mentioned air quality and location of playing fields. There was consensus that the Manager and Superintendents meet to address the standards for existing schools to see if a target could be established. School Board member Rick Kennedy mentioned that these new high school standards would apply to Orange County as they are currently planning for a new high school. They would not immediately apply to Chapel Hill/Carrboro because they will not be building a new school in the near future. The standards might need to be reviewed again prior to applying them to the Chapel Hill/Carrboro School System. CHARTER SCHOOLS: Possible Impact of Charter Schools on the Local Budget: This item was considered to discuss the possible impacts of charter schools on local school budgets. Both the Chapel Hill-Carrboro and Orange County Superintendents presented information explaining the potential financial impact of these charter schools. The Orange County Schools estimate a possible net loss of $502,155. The Chapel Hill-Carrboro Schools estimate a possible net loss of $814,622. A discussion followed during which the following comments and statements were made. • The situation that the established school systems are facing is that they will lose only a small percentage of students across the entire range of classes, and so will not be able to reduce the number of classes. There will be virtually no savings for them but there will be a large loss of revenue from those students who are currently enrolled in a traditional system and choose the Charter Schools. • It was also pointed out that if one of the schools fail, the students will be re-enrolled in their original system, but the money will not be returned. • The original intent of the State Legislature was for Charter Schools to be funded in Counties where the local systems were failing the students. Orange County has had four (4) Charter Schools approved. It is also uncertain where the Charter Schools will be located. The location of the schools will greatly impact the area from which students will be enrolling. • It may be necessary for there to be continued discussion regarding how the money is allocated at the County level. It may not be effective to have six (6) different groups coming to the Commissioners for money.