Orange County NC Website
A motion was made by Commissioner Halkiotis, seconded by Commissioner Foushee to <br />appoint Ted Tribel to the BOA to an at-large position with a term expiring June 30, 2008, under <br />the condition that if he is elected to the school board, he will have to resign from this board. <br />VOTE: UNANIMOUS <br />10. Reports <br />a. Schools Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance (SAPFOI- Review of Annual <br />Technical Advisory Committee Report <br />The Board reviewed the Annual Report of the SAPFO Technical Advisory Committee <br />(SAPFOTAC) and referred it to the SAPFO partners for comments before certification in mid- <br />May. <br />Rod Visser said that the school systems certify their student membership and building <br />capacities as of November 15th of each year, and that is presented to the Board of County <br />Commissioners in January for approval. In conjunction with that, the SAPFO Technical <br />Advisory Committee meets every year and works with those numbers and produces an annual <br />report for the Board of County Commissioners and for the SAPFO partners related to changes <br />in membership, building capacity, student projections, and any other factors that might affect the <br />future issuance of Certificates of Adequate Public Schools related to new residential <br />development. The draft report is in the agenda package and is also on the County's website. <br />He pointed out the implications of this year's report. It is now recommended that CHCCS <br />Elementary School #10 will be needed in 2007-08. It is not practical to do this, but the school <br />system is doing everything possible to have the new school open in 2008-09. <br />Another factor reflected in the report is changes made to the student/teacher ratios at <br />the elementary level in K-3 by the General Assembly over the last few years. The average <br />student to teacher class size in the K-3 level is supposed to be reduced to 21:1 in the SAPFO, <br />whereas now it is set up as 23:1. The school collaboration work group discussed this in <br />November and made a recommendation to continue working with this ratio until the opening of <br />Elementary School #10, and then move towards calculating capacities based on this lower ratio. <br />This lower ratio will accelerate the need for Elementary School #11 in 2011-2012 and there will <br />also be a need with the ten-year planning period far a Middle School #5 in the CHCCS. On the <br />OCS side, once Gravelly Hill Middle School opens, there is no forecast need for additional <br />school space over the next ten years. <br />Commissioner Gordon made reference to Elementary School #10 construction and if the <br />County had funds to cover the rest of the amount and Rod Visser said that they have some <br />additional capacity, but it has not been worked out yet. <br />Commissioner Gordon said that this is a complex issue because the funding was <br />switched out. She asked when the debt capacity starts going down and it was answered 2008- <br />09. Debt capacity will be at peak in 2007-08. She said that it will be a challenge to fund this <br />school. There is also a challenging situation in CHCCS because of the need for Elementary <br />School #11, Middle School #5, and expansion of Carrboro High School over the next ten years. <br />This totals over $120 million for CHCCS. <br />John Link said that, to accomplish the timetable to build this school, at the point in time <br />when they can incur more debt, they issue certificates of participation or some other debt <br />instrument beyond bands. They have discussed this timetable with Superintendent Pederson. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis asked Craig Benedict who has a SAPFO in North Carolina and <br />Craig Benedict said that Orange County has the only functional one. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis said that Orange County is nowhere in the dire straits that <br />many of the school systems and counties find themselves in. He said that this is easily <br />manageable. <br />