Orange County NC Website
Ephesus Church Road. The Town will continue to hire, supervise, train, and pay the crossing <br />guards, but they are billing the school district for the payroll costs. <br />Chair Brown asked about the $75,000 for AP exams and why there could not be a sliding scale. <br />She does not understand why the County taxpayers should subsidize people who can pay for AP <br />tests. Gloria Faley said that the AP exams are a good case of the haves and have-Hots and <br />being able to take AP. The college boards define the cost and the school board does not define <br />the cost of the exam. <br />Chair Brown asked about a sliding scale for those who could afford to pay for it. Neil Pedersen <br />said that the State might give money and the board wrestled with this as far as a sliding scale. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis asked about subsidizing meals. He asked for information to the Board on <br />how the arrangement that CHCCS has works and the benefits that the employees receive. He <br />said that he has mixed feelings because if the County is going to be subsidizing one school <br />system, then it should be subsidizing both systems or none at all. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis asked about AP exams and what happens to a student if they do not take <br />the exam but still take an AP course. Neil Pedersen said that 90% are willing to take the exam. <br />The way they handled it this year was that for those that did not take it they submitted an <br />incomplete exam for them. However, by the time the exam is scored it is too late and the AP <br />exam has no impact on their grade. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis said that he feels that if there was astudent-based need then he would <br />support this but not if the students are blessed with the financial means of paying for their exams. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis asked the Manager about temporary federal assistance and where the <br />money is coming from. John Link said that he believes that most of it is relief provided to states <br />for Medicaid. Orange County is supposed to receive as much as $300-400,000 in reduced <br />county costs. <br />Commissioner Jacobs said that the State House budget appropriates that money for other <br />purposes besides Medicaid anyway, including their fund balance. <br />Commissioner Jacobs said that Elementary School #10 is budgeted $1.5 million more than <br />Rashkis three years later. He asked where they got a half million-dollar increase per year in the <br />cost. He asked for this information in writing. Neil Pedersen said this is probably inflationary. <br />Commissioner Jacobs asked about the proposed football stadium with the new high school and <br />said that he is not sure if this can be done for $660,000. He would like to see an itemization of <br />this amount. He said that, before we build a football stadium, he would like to see how much we <br />are spending per female and per male athlete and how much money is being spent for football as <br />opposed to other sports. He would be interested in finding out about the equity of sports in both <br />school systems. <br />Commissioner Jacobs agreed about the funding of AP classes and that it should be paid for those <br />who cannot afford it and not for everyone across the board. <br />Commissioner Jacobs asked about the nursing positions and if the CHCCS school board would <br />prefer to receive the extra $107,000 in per pupil allocations or to leave it in the nursing budget. <br />Gloria Faley said that they have many situations that their nurses cover. The board has not <br />discussed this option, but her general feeling is that it should be left in the nursing budget. <br />Commissioner Jacobs asked about the difference between the contingency fund and the <br />undesignated fund balance and Neil Pedersen said that contingency is a line item in their budget. <br />If they do not spend contingency at the end of the year, then it rolls into the fund balance. <br />