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. Funding equity remains a challenge for the BQCC <br />. In accordance with State statutory formula, local current expense funding far <br />schools is driven by the number of students in a school district <br />. Historically, annual student growth in CHCCS has outpaced OCS, leading to more <br />dollars for CHCCS <br />Methods for School Merger in North Carolina <br />North Carolina Statutes Provide Four Ways to Merge School Systems (Appendix F} <br />Merger of Units in Same County <br />Merger plan developed by boards of education; requires approval of board of <br />county commissioners <br />Merger plan requires approval by State Board of Education <br />Mercer plan may (or may not} be made contingent on voter approval <br />Merger of Units in Adjoining Counties <br />Involves merger of county school units in one or more adjoining or contiguous <br />counties with a city school administrative unit <br />Requires approval of the "tax-levying body far the school units" <br />Merger of units by local boards of education <br />City school unit notifies State Board that it is voluntarily dissolving itself <br />State Board required to adopt a merger plan for the administrative unit <br />No role for school board ar commissioners in merger plan; no referendum <br />County Commissioner Initiated Merger <br />Board of County Commissioners adopts plan for consolidation and merger of <br />local administrative units located wholly within the county into a single unit <br />County Commissioner Initiated Merger <br />Preparation and approval of this type of merger consistent with a school <br />administrative unit initiated consolidation and merger with three basic exceptions: <br />^ County Commissioners must provide local funding for all students at the <br />highest level of any local school administrative unit in the county during the <br />preceding five fiscal years before the merger <br />Boards of education "shall not participate by preparing, entering into, <br />submitting, or agreeing to a plan" <br />^ "The plan shall not be contingent upon approval of the voters" <br />North Carolina General Statute § 115C-67 provides that after the plan of <br />consolidation and merger is approved by the State Board of Education, it "shall be <br />deemed to have been made by authority of law and shall not be changed or <br />amended except by an act of the General Assembly." <br />Merger Timetable <br />^ Individual merger plans detail their own timetable <br />^ State Board does not specify a schedule for implementation <br />