Minutes - 09-24-2001 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Commissioner Brown agrees with going ahead with the band referendum. She is very encouraged that the economy will get better. Commissioner Jacobs feels we are a confident community and a progressive community with a sense of optimism, which makes this a special place. This is not a time to turn away from our obligations to the children in Orange County. We can certainly spread the bonds over a longer period of time to mitigate the impact on the tax rate. He feels comfortable in moving ahead and in assuring the voters that the Board will be responsible and pay taxes also. Nick Didow made reference to an invitation from Carol Woods to present information on the bond referendum an Friday, October 4th and was wondering if it should be members of the Bond Education Committee doing this presentation instead of Board of Education members or County Commissioners. John Link said that their target date for having a PowerPoint presentation is October 3rd. If the presentation materials are not ready, there will be pamphlets and other written material. Commissioner Jacobs said that he was just responding to an invitation and he thought it was appropriate for school board members to go and represent their interests. Dana Thompson said that a big presentation would not be necessary for the meeting at Coral Woods. b. Opportunities for Collaboration Between School Systems Commissioner Brown made reference to attachment 1 b-2. She said that this collaboration would be between the two school systems. She summarized the three goals as stated below: 1. Achieve the broadest possible access to educational opportunities for all students in Orange County. 2. Enhance resources and support for teachers. 3. Be responsive to long-term impact of school budgets on the taxpayers of Orange County. The proposal is that the Orange County Board of Commissioners request that the two boards of education establish a work group of their choice to discuss the purpose and possible elements of collaboration as identified and to share their findings with the Board of Commissioners by May 1, 2002. Commissioner Jacobs made reference to the Innovation and Efficiency report, which made recommendations about school funding and collaboration issues. He made reference to the school merger study, which was done in 1986. He summarized the 10 possible elements of school collaboration, which are listed on attachment 1 b-2. He suggested coming up with a common language for what is meant by budgetary mandates. Susan Halkiotis said that she feels this is a great idea. There are a number of things on the list that are important and merit discussion. She said that there was no mention of a County Commissioners' representative on this committee and she feels there does need to be a County Commissioner an this work group. Chair Halkiotis said that he mentioned to Nick Didow the rumor going around that Orange County was creating extra capacity in the Orange County school district to force merger of the two systems, which is not true. He feels that both systems should look at the merger report. If there are any opportunities to save money, then these opportunities need to be pursued. Nick Didow said that the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School Board would consider this request at its next meeting on October 4th and how they would respond and participate in this process. He asked if a consideration was made to do another study and if the recommendation was to merge that the County Commissioners would make that decision. However, if a committee comes back with the recommendation that merger is not right at this time, it would mean that merger would not be considered at this time. He asked if the County Commissioners was considering a full "revisiting" of the question of merging the two school districts. Commissioner Carey said that he feels that the committee should not include a County Commissioner because the school board members know mast about their system and can reach agreement on the recommendations without the input of a County Commissioner. He said that the population has changed in bath school systems and perhaps it is time to revisit the merger study in light of changing population and a change in the school system. He feels that circumstances have changed enough to revisit the question of merger. He feels that the committee could address this issue. Commissioner Jacobs feels it is more important to stick to the issue of freeing up money for programming, teacher salaries, and teacher supplements instead of putting money into structures. He said