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5 <br /> Financial Refonn for Excellence in Education ReceivPm <br /> 200 Stags Trail APR - 1997 <br /> Chapel Hill, NC 27516-7310 <br /> Phone: 919-967-1029 April 7, 1997 Managers Office <br /> The Honorable Joe Hackney The Honorable Howard Lee <br /> House of Representatives State Senate <br /> North Carolina General Assembly North Carolina General Assembly <br /> c/o Legislative Building c/o Legislative Office Building <br /> Raleigh, North Carolina 27601 Raleigh, North Carolina 27601 <br /> The Honorable Verla Insco The Honorable Eleanor Kinnaird <br /> House of Representatives State Senate <br /> North Carolina General Assembly North Carolina General Assembly <br /> c/o Legislative Building c/o Legislative Building <br /> Raleigh, North Carolina 27601 Raleigh,North Carolina 27601 <br /> Dear Representatives Hackney and Insco and Senators Lee and Kinnaird, <br /> I have been informed that Mark Royster (Board of Education Chair) and Neil Pedersen <br /> (Superintendent) wrote to you suggesting that charter schools "could have a devastating impact" <br /> on the Chapel Dill Carrboro City Schools (CHCCS). They also claimed that for every hundred <br /> students enrolled in a charter school, they will lose almost$500,000. <br /> While I am confident that such wild statements and bogus figures will not deceive you, I <br /> am concerned that others who received copies of the letter dated February 25, may be misled. <br /> This letter is intended to give a more realistic assessment of the impact. The income of each <br /> school district is determined by the number of students enrolled (Average Daily Membership). <br /> The CHCCS district is experiencing a steady rise in its ADM and its elementary schools are <br /> operating beyond their capacity, in spite of the opening of McDougle elementary last fall: <br /> 9/95 9/96 9/97 <br /> Increase in ADM from previous year 251 274 300 <br /> Over capacity in elementary schools 405 83 225 <br /> The September 1995 and 1996 figures are based on CHCCS "Opening of School Reports" <br /> and the 1997 figures are my estimates (Pedersen estimates 270 extra students this September). <br /> FREE plans to open the Village Charter School in the fall of this year with 144 students in grades <br /> K through 5. Even if all our students are recruited from CHCCS, they would have the same <br /> number of elementary students in September 1997 as a year before. So they will lose no income <br /> at all. However, they will lose the dollars they had hoped to receive by adding to the over <br /> crowding in their schools. <br /> Charter schools are springing up all over the country. They have student waiting lists and <br /> dozens of teacher applicants for every vacancy. Almost all charter schools have opted for lower <br /> lobbyl.doc Page 1 of 3 <br />