Agenda - 03-03-2015 - 6a - Laserfiche WebLink

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5 1 Commissioner Pelissier asked if a recent survey has been done with students to find out 2 hard facts on the transit needs. 3 Dr. Bill Ingram said this has not been done. He said this might be easier for Triangle 4 Transit to track this once the free transit passes are given to students. 5 Chair Jacobs said part of the bond process will be for Durham Tech to come up with a 6 figure. He said this can be incorporated into a bond committee. 7 Dr. Ingram said this past year the college has decided to update their strategic plan and 8 will be asking the Orange County community to help them think through this plan. 9 10 Orange County Schools - Pg. 124 & 204 11 Chair Donna Coffey expressed appreciation for the opportunity to share information on 12 the budget request. She said the task of balancing needs with available money is not an easy 13 one. She encouraged the Board to step outside of the 48.1 percent funding target to look at the 14 schools' true needs. She said the days of relying on the state legislature are gone. 15 Chair Donna Coffey said the most recent state senate budget cuts 7,400 teacher 16 assistants. She outlined some of the additional cuts in the senate budget. 17 She said there are also facility needs that go far beyond the current money available. 18 She said the number of students is projected to rise, and these students must be served. She 19 asked the Board to invest in these children. 20 Interim Superintendent Del Burns reviewed several PowerPoint slides outlining the 21 impact of state legislation on the Orange County Schools' budget. He said their budget request 22 was for an increase to $2.8 million. He said, as of last June 30th, the operating fund balance 23 was $5.8 million, and $3.3 million of this is assigned. He said this leaves only $2.5 million 24 unassigned fund balance, and if nothing changes this will be reduced by $950,000. 25 He reviewed additional information on the impact of the state senate budget. He said 26 the highest impact would be felt in the teaching assistant positions in Kindergarten through 3 d 27 grade. He noted that driver education is unfunded, and cuts to transportation will impact bus 28 maintenance. 29 Interim Superintendent Del Burns said the total impact is $2.1 million, and in order to 30 deal with these changes and account for student growth and other needs, $30 million would be 31 required for Orange County Schools for next year. 32 Commissioner Dorosin asked about the cuts to teacher assistants. He said he thought 33 the senate budget proposed only eliminating assistants in 2nd and 3 d grade. 34 Interim Superintendent Del Burns said Orange County uses teacher assistants in 35 Kindergarten through 3rd, and the allotment formula addresses what Commissioner Dorosin 36 shared. 37 Commissioner Price asked for an explanation of the $950,000 mentioned earlier. 38 Del Burns said when the budget was developed there were needs that were established 39 from DPI projections, and then there were expansion requests. He said this was put together, 40 and there was a number. He said staff looked at this and decided that based on the amount of 41 unassigned fund balance it would be prudent to use $950,000 in fund balance in order to 42 reduce their request to the Board of County Commissioners. 43 Commissioner McKee questioned whether there are any anticipated surprises, since the 44 student growth has not been anticipated by SAPFO, 45 Del Burns said he thinks the growth is projected to be 197 students. 46 Commissioner McKee said he does not think that SAPFO is picking up all of the 47 projected students. 48 Chair Coffey said she does not think that a lot of the numbers have been captured. 49 Commissioner Gordon asked how far the $95 per pupil in manager's budget would go. 50 Del Burns said this would basically cover growth.