Minutes 04-25-2013 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

Pre-K discussion moved to end of meeting. Legislative Update Both school boards touched on this in their Power Point presentations. Superintendent Rhodes said the greatest concern to the OCS board is the charter schools legislation. He said this legislation will allow charter schools access to district budgets. He said there have been court cases in which North Carolina School Districts were required to pay out fund balance and other reserves to Charter Schools. He also mentioned the virtual Charter School potentials. Superintendent Rhodes referenced bills to allow homeschoolers and private schoolers to play on public school sports teams and participate in extra-curricular activities. He said this is an example of inequities that exist. He noted that charter schools do not have to pay the state sales tax. He said In Florida there is a movement to set up vouchers for public school students to go to other schools; and this is one of many examples of movements that he feels de-legitimize public education. He said the one size fits all reform models do not help all the districts. He said he has never seen this level of legislative activity associated with public schools. Commissioner Dorosin said he too believes that there is a movement to de-legitimatize public education. He said the vouchers and bills are designed to incentive people to leave public education. He said that the Charter Schools are not really a choice for everyone because there is no requirement for free and reduced lunch to be offered. He said these Charter Schools are more racially and socio-economically segregated than Public Schools and he expressed anger about what is happening to Public Schools and said the County needs to raise a collective voice to uncover what is happening. Superintendent Forcella said the governor's budget includes a reduction in teacher assistants that would equate to a loss of about $1 million for the district. Chair Jacobs said there will be more discussion of Charter Schools and some creative approaches to prevent the district from being a sitting duck for the raiding of funds. Commissioner Price asked both school systems to clarify what cuts are being made to teachers in the face of budget cuts. She asked if this will affect class sizes or course offerings. Todd Lofriese said both of these issues could be a reality. He said, with the discretionary reductions going back to state, the cuts equal over $3 million. He said this leads to the 30-31 student class sizes, as this reduction means 50 teachers less. Commissioner Price asked if this reduction has already taken place and if it will continue. Todd Lofriese said this reduction has been happening since the 2009-2010 school year. Superintendent Rhodes said there was a reduction of 33 teachers for OCS. Todd Lofriese said this has not just affected teachers. The district has returned funding for teacher assistants as well. He said there has been an attempt to use fund balances to fund these positions. CHCCS Chair Brownstein said the class size really does matter in the lower grades, and with the some of the bills in legislation there will be an effect on K-3. This will stretch teachers thin and impact school safety and behavior. OCS Chair Coffey said public schools struggle with educating the public about what is going on with their public education system. Chair Jacobs referenced the segregation occurring in schools in Mississippi and Alabama and how the voucher system will only worsen this situation. He agreed that there