Minutes 04-29-2014 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Gerri Martin gave an outline for the general public of the different governmental fund types, as outlined on a flowchart included in the abstract. She noted that the last 8 years have seen an increase in student enrollment. She said the recent report on enrollment projections for next year shows an expected increase of 297 students. She said the historical profile of Orange County Schools (OCS) shows not only 6 years of increase in enrollment, but also an increase in childhood poverty, from 35 percent to 41 percent in Orange County. She said in spite of this negative trend, the level of pupil/teacher ratio has stayed the same. Gerri Martin noted that the current total number of full time school employees is 990. She said this is the same number of total employees that the district had in 2007. She said the total number of teachers has increased from 486 to 546, and this reflects the board's focus on the classroom and instruction. She said previous slides have shown that OCS has grown by 744 students in that same time frame and that the poverty level has increased. She said this is important to note in considering that there are still the same number of employees. Gerri Martin reviewed the expansion budget requests. She said there are some gap needs in the district that should be focused on. She said there is square footage to warrant the addition of maintenance staff. She noted that there is a full detailed listing of the expansion items on page 50 and 64 of the booklet provided to the Board. She said these items are also reflected at the bottom of pages 31 and 32 in the footnotes. Gerri Martin said the slide on expected appropriation represents the expected appropriation if there were no per pupil allocation increase, and an increase of 197 students; however the board is requesting an increase of$283 in per pupil allocation. She said this means the total current expense request is for $27,929,376 for this budget. She said the focus is on classroom instruction, student achievement and the wellbeing of students and staff. She thanked the Board in advance for its consideration of this budget. Chair Jacobs opened the floor for questions. Commissioner McKee asked what the fund balance target is for OCS. Chair Coffey said the target is 3.1%. Commissioner McKee asked if the turnover rate for OCS is in the same range as CHCCS. Chair Coffey said this is at 4.61 percent. Commissioner McKee asked for the state average. Staff answered that is a little over 14 percent. Commissioner Gordon asked what the current percent is for OCS fund balance. Gerri Martin said the quantity is $2.5 million, but she is not sure about the percentage. Commissioner Gordon said she would like for CHCCS to explain more about the $750,000 being requested for renovations. Todd LoFrese said the school board recently adopted a comprehensive recommendation for facility needs. He said part of that resolution included making a request for preliminary renovation funding to start one of the projects. He said the reason for this is because the timing of the bond could potentially impact when the construction could occur, and there could be a conflict with the timing of addressing facility needs and increasing capacity at older schools while children are there. He said this is a delicate phasing process. He said this will be covered in the bond discussion.