Orange County NC Website
part being that funds would not have to be distributed on a per pupil basis but could be used for <br />a specific purpose across the districts. Funding far SRO's is patchwork at best. As for CHCCS, <br />they pay far SRO's; they picked up all of the costs for these for Chapel Hill and two for Carrboro <br />(one of these has since been eliminated} and the other was not funded. The town manager has <br />made it clear that SRO's will not be funded and neither will School Crossing Guards. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis said that Orange County schools are paying $180,000 and <br />Superintendent Pedersen said they (CHCCS) are paying about $290,000. There is some <br />interesting disparity here. Deputies make less than Chapel HiII/Carrboro Police Officers. He <br />said that the costs should have some equity about them and they should lobby our legislators to <br />fund these SRO positions just like a teaching position ar a nursing position, based on how many <br />kids. All school systems should have a School Resource Officer on board. CHCCS is paying <br />more for the SRO's than OCS. There is a difference between Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and <br />Orange County in pay scales far these officers. If the Sheriff lases his additional funding <br />(various grants}, that will be another issue. If the Sheriff goes the same way Chapel Hill and <br />Carrboro has gone, then the county is probably looking at $600,0001$700,000 or more a year. <br />This means that with another Middle School coming on line, the County is rapidly approaching <br />the $1 million dollar figure in just security issues. The life of one person is worth more than any <br />amount we pay for these safety officers. <br />Commissioner Gordon asked far clarification on the "new tax" discussion that staff from <br />both school districts was talking about. <br />John Link responded that this special tax was talked about in the context of their <br />collaboration meetings. They were talking about the potential of the county-wide district tax and <br />what one could do as relates to focusing on certain functions that may be functions that could <br />be contracted as opposed to being per pupil. The kinds of examples, as Neil Pedersen said, <br />included social workers, SRO's, nurses, and there could be others. Jahn Link said that this was <br />part of a countywide district tax idea. He said that they were brainstorming. <br />Superintendent Carraway said that they were looking at some different ways to finance <br />some needs that both districts have, so that the County would pay far something, rather than on <br />a per pupil basis. <br />Chair Carey said this was in the context of the tier paradigm that was discussed during <br />the budget discussions. It was just another manifestation of the tier level funding. <br />Commissioner Gordon said she finds this fascinating and she just wanted to make sure <br />she had heard correctly. She asked about the dual enrollment programs, the interdistrict <br />academic program, where no students signed up. She would like for someone to elaborate on <br />some of the reasons given for na enrollment and are there plans to try this again. <br />Superintendent Carraway said that there was a significant amount of interest by students <br />in the interdistricting programs but when they were asked to actually commit, no one did. It is <br />not known whether the issue was about a half day or whole day program ar just that many <br />students did not want to give up their friends or athletics. She hopes that there will be more <br />interest in the coming years. She said that there was interest was on bath sides. <br />Commissioner Gordon said that since the Middle College had some enrollees she was <br />wondering if there is something they can learn from this about what type of student would want <br />to make a change to do the interdistrict programs. She said that they may need to look at a <br />different type of student needing something the interdistrict programs did not provide and they <br />might want to think about the differences in the two programs. <br />Lisa Stuckey said that even though there are no students showing up here, there were a <br />number that they tried to get. She said that they approved 3-5 students to transfer to the OCS <br />system because of the IB program and Nick Didaw said that they do not deny any students who <br />want to go to the OCS. <br />