Agenda - 09-29-2015 - Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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4a 18 ORO 1, : %e 1, C I ..I.. Y S C� 1.1 0 0 L._ S Date: September 23, 2015 To: Bonnie Hammersley, Orange County Manager From: Todd LoFrese, Assistant Superintendent for Support Services Re: Fiscal -year 2015 -16 Operating Budget Last Friday Governor McCrory signed the state budget for the next biennium into law. Now that we have greater clarity on state funding, we can finalize our local budget and seek formal budget approval from the Board of Education. We plan on presenting a recommendation to the Board of Education on October 1, 2015. The recommendation will be based on the priorities determined by the Board of Education and the district's long range plan reconciled against the action taken at the state level. We shared these priorities with the Board of Commissioners at our joint meeting last spring and during the local budget development process. A brief summary of the relevant provisions of the state budget and their local impact on education funding are described briefly below. Administration will be prepared to answer questions that Commissioners may have. • Teacher Assistants: Teacher assistant funding was preserved in the final state budget. The funding formula has changed slightly which could result in a small decrease in funding for CHCCS and there is reduced budget flexibility as teacher assistant money can no longer be transferred. The district funds additional teacher assistants locally so the reduced flexibility does not impact us. Salary and Bonuses: The state budget increased beginning teacher pay to $35,000 and provided funding for teacher step increases. Since there are only 5 steps in the teacher schedule, it is estimated that approximately 65% of teachers will not receive a salary increase. Some principals will receive step increases, although most will not. Classified employees and central office administrators were not provided any salary increase. The state did provide a one -time bonus for all school employees of $750. We estimate that it will cost just under $1.1 million in local dollars to provide salary increases and bonuses for locally paid staff. This is about $100,000 less than we had estimated in our original budget request. • Driver Education: The state budget provided funding for driver education. We do not anticipate needing additional local money for driver education this year and do not anticipate charging a fee to students. 1st Grade Class Size Reduction: The budget included funding for a class size decrease of 1 student per class in grade 1 in fiscal year 2016 -17. This is additional funding for an estimated 5 additional teachers across the district, however it may reduce our available school capacity. This week legislation (House Bill 539) was reintroduced that may require the sharing of the special district tax with charter schools outside of our district along with access to other types of funding. If passed as currently written, this would cost the district in excess of $250,000. We are monitoring this legislation closely.