Minutes - 09-24-2001 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Susan Halkiotis said that far the Orange County Schools the school board has had discussions an two issues. One had to do with the projection formulas used in the last round of budget and bond discussions. Some used a cohort survival formula, which surprised the school board because it had not previously been part of any of their discussions as to whether or not to adopt that method. The Orange County School system has used its own formula for projecting enrollment and growth. The second issue was cost per student per school building. She made reference to Commissioner Cordon's comments about the error in the numbers far Orange County Schools. She said that when information like that is shared on the cuff, there is no opportunity to examine where the figures are coming from. The school board wants to communicate well and correct misconceptions. She would like to see this kind of information before a meeting where everyone is together in order to read it thoroughly. Start-Up Costs for Cedar Ridge High School Discussed in above comments. c. School Funding Task Force Dana Thompson said that they formed a School Funding task force in response to the budget discussions. The task force was tremendously diverse. The charge from the Orange County Board of Education to the task force was to look at all sorts of alternatives available, to make the findings known to the board along with recommendations on which to pursue, and how to use any funds generated in terms of programs or teacher salaries. They have had four meetings so far. There is just one alternative out there and that is the possibility of a special district tax, just like the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools. The school board talked about recommendations at the last meeting. The task force will have a final meeting in 1-1/2 weeks and will make some recommendations, which will be considered by the Orange County Board of Education. The group is optimistic and enthusiastic. Commissioner Gordon distributed a handout on information sharing which explained the timing of staff student population projections, information shared with the Capital Needs Advisory Task Force, and related issues. 3. ISSUES IDENTIFIEDlPRESENTED BY CHAPEL HILL-CARRBORO CITY SCHOOLS a. Capital Projects Nick Didow said that there were two items to bring to the County Commissioners' attention. The first is planning for the third high school. He said that the staff expects to identify some sites in the southern end of the district for the location of this high school. The school board will probably make a formal decision about the site at their meeting of October 18t". The second item is the matter of Elementary School #9 and the community gym. He presented an architectural drawing of the community gym far Elementary School #9. Steve Scraggs spoke about the architectural drawing. It becomes a full high school floor to aver 4,000 square feet. It would be open for the public. The Town of Chapel Hill will provide the $700,000, which is the difference between the multi-purpose room and the community gym. It will cost an additional $250,000 which the school system will have to pay. The developer is going to contribute $236,000. Nick Didow said that the Chapel Hill Carrboro City School Board has offered to contribute $250,000 toward this project and has invited the Town to indicate how they would return this amount to the school system. One of the options is cash repayment over a future year ar two. Another option is to return that in some value of additional asset. He assumes that this significant detail would be something worked out among the County Commissioners, Town of Chapel Hill, and the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schaal Board. Commissioner Carey feels that Chapel Hill should pay the entire $750,000 at a term which is reasonable. He supports the project based an that assumption. He questions the value for value assumption. He supports the involvement of the County Commissioners in any further discussion. Commissioner Gordon noted that the idea of co-location of facilities and getting as much value as possible is something she supports. If this co-location does not occur and the gym is not built, it would cost up to $2 million to build it separately. Even if the Tawn does pay the entire $750,000 there is a plus far the Town of Chapel Hill collaborating with the school system. John Link made reference to the Policy an Planning and Funding School Capital Projects and recommended that the County Commissioners put in writing to the school board that, as it relates to the final