Minutes 09-30-2014 - Laserfiche WebLink

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to expansion budget, and it will have to fight among all of the other budget items. He said this does not mean that it will not be funded, but it is not a continuation. He said his understanding is that the Department of Public Instruction is trying to determine how they might provide a projection. He said absent this it will be a challenge to decide what to base the budget for the subsequent year on. He said there is not a clear path at this time. Tom Forcella said the concern is the same for CHCCS, and this impacts their planning for the future. Interim Superintendent Del Burns said if growth is not funded, increased class sizes will be a result; and the ratio for Teacher Assistants to students will change. He said the areas that are funded by ADM will not lose money, but will not be provided additional appropriation to maintain ratios. Chair Jacobs thanked the superintendents for their input. He said the public needs to know that there have been ramifications beyond the money for teacher raises. Commissioner Price asked if there are any charter schools that go beyond 8th grade. Staff said it is possible that Orange Charter does. Commissioner Price said she is just considering the possible impact once these students graduate and come into the school system. She asked if any impact is being seen at the secondary level. Interim Superintendent Del Burns said no impact has been seen at the secondary level yet. He said the state looks at the higher of the first or second month in determining the allotment that comes to the school system, and then there is no adjustment after that. He said this means that if private or charter schools students choose to return to public schools, the state will not reconcile that number. He said in the Orange County School District, the funding for charter schools is calculated monthly and provided. He said this means that if the number changes, at least the district does not have to send as much money to the charter school. Tom Forcella said CHCCS has one charter school (PACE) and the schools charter was revoked, but the decision was appealed. He said the school has opened this year, but there has not been a lot of change in student numbers. 3. Update on Cross-District Courses — Challenqes and Opportunities Chair Jacobs said this is a ten year old issue that came during the discussion of a merger, and it came up again in a recent Commissioners' meeting. He said there is information included in attachment 2a. Tom Forcella reviewed the following information from the abstract: Cross-district enrollment: This has been explored and attempted previously. Logistical factors, different school schedules, travel distances and the desire to participate in after school activities led to extremely low participation. Even our middle college program has available slots and we believe that a child's inability to participate in athletics is a major factor in the program's underutilization. We are currently reviewing policy requirements and exploring whether we may be able to facilitate middle college students participating in athletics. We are also exploring technology solutions to provide greater access to unique course offerings and schedules. Both districts also have access to North Carolina Virtual Public Schools to provide unique course opportunities. Opportunities with Durham Tech continued to be explored, especially due to the state support of Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs. Many exciting programs, such as Project Lead the Way, are drawing students to enroll in more CTE