Minutes 06-05-2014 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Dr. Bill Ingram said a new building is not needed now, but it will be needed within the next 4 to 6 years. He said Orange County is not likely to take this as a bond issue separate from the one proposed in 2016. Commissioner Pelissier asked if a recent survey has been done with students to find out hard facts on the transit needs. Dr. Bill Ingram said this has not been done. He said this might be easier for Triangle Transit to track this once the free transit passes are given to students. Chair Jacobs said part of the bond process will be for Durham Tech to come up with a figure. He said this can be incorporated into a bond committee. Dr. Ingram said this past year the college has decided to update their strategic plan and will be asking the Orange County community to help them think through this plan. • Orange County Schools - Pg. 124 & 204 Chair ponna Coffey expressed appreciation for the opportunity to share information on the budget request. She said the task of balancing needs with available money is not an easy one. She encouraged the Board to step outside of the 48.1 percent funding target to look at the schools' true needs. She said the days of relying on the state legislature are gone. Chair ponna Coffey said the most recent state senate budget cuts 7,400 teacher assistants. She outlined some of the additional cuts in the senate budget. She said there are also facility needs that go far beyond the current money available. She said the number of students is projected to rise, and these students must be served. She asked the Board to invest in these children. Interim Superintendent Del Burns reviewed several PowerPoint slides outlining the impact of state legislation on the Orange County Schools' budget. He said their budget request was for an increase to $2.8 million. He said, as of last June 30th, the operating fund balance was $5.8 million, and $3.3 million of this is assigned. He said this leaves only $2.5 million unassigned fund balance, and if nothing changes this will be reduced by $950,000. He reviewed additional information on the impact of the state senate budget. He said the highest impact would be felt in the teaching assistant positions in Kindergarten through 3�a grade. He noted that driver education is unfunded, and cuts to transportation will impact bus maintenance. Interim Superintendent Del Burns said the total impact is $2.1 million, and in order to deal with these changes and account for student growth and other needs, $30 million would be required for Orange County Schools for next year. Commissioner porosin asked about the cuts to teacher assistants. He said he thought the senate budget proposed only eliminating assistants in 2nd and 3�d grade. Interim Superintendent Del Burns said Orange County uses teacher assistants in Kindergarten through 3rd, and the allotment formula addresses what Commissioner porosin shared. Commissioner Price asked for an explanation of the $950,000 mentioned earlier. Del Burns said when the budget was developed there were needs that were established from DPI projections, and then there were expansion requests. He said this was put together, and there was a number. He said staff looked at this and decided that based on the amount of unassigned fund balance it would be prudent to use $950,000 in fund balance in order to reduce their request to the Board of County Commissioners. Commissioner McKee questioned whether there are any anticipated surprises, since the student growth has not been anticipated by SAPFO, Del Burns said he thinks the growth is projected to be 197 students.