Orange County NC Website
Health and Safety Service Contracts (Replaces Fair Funding) <br /> The recommended budget replaces the Fair Funding program with Health and Safety Service <br /> Contracts. The Fair Funding program was created in FY 2006-07 to direct County funds to <br /> particular purposes and to provide an equal amount of funding to each District for those <br /> purposes. Under this new model, the County will contract with each School District to provide <br /> and fund School Resource Officers in each middle school and high school, and provide one <br /> public health nurse for each school facility. The Districts currently use a variety of funding to <br /> pay for these services. This budget will fully fund each District for health and safety services by <br /> adding approximately $1.4 million to the existing $1.9 million formerly used in the Fair Funding <br /> program. <br /> State Mandates for Retirement and Health Insurance <br /> In addition to the funds recommended for Health and Safety Service Contracts and Charter <br /> Students, the recommended budget includes a recommendation to fund State mandated <br /> retirement and health insurance contributions for school employees. These mandates total <br /> $484,562, and are funded through the Current Expense appropriation. <br /> Per Pupil Equivalent <br /> Based on the structure of the additional funds, recommended for schools, the per pupil amount <br /> increases by $24.50, to $3,722. This is because the Health and Safety Service Contracts will be <br /> administered outside of the current expense budget, and funding for charter students does not <br /> add to the per pupil amount. If the total increase of $2,656,421 were calculated in per pupil <br /> equivalent terms, the increase would be approximately $133 per pupil. <br /> School Districts Budget Requests <br /> Both School Districts requested increases in per pupil funding for FY 2016-17. <br /> Orange County Schools requested an increase of $390.50, plus funding for an additional 155 <br /> charter students. This requested increase in the local per pupil allocation for current expenses <br /> would increase the per pupil allocation to $4,088. This funding level would represent an <br /> increase in the current expense for Orange County Schools of $3,786,240. This would <br /> represent a tax rate equivalent of approximately 2.26 cents on the current property tax rate. <br /> Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools requested an increase of $446.76, plus funding for an <br /> additional 50 charter students in the district. This requested increase in the local per pupil <br /> allocation for current expenses would increase the per pupil allocation to $4,144,26. This <br /> funding level would represent an increase of $4,465,203 in the current expense for Chapel Hill- <br /> Carrboro City Schools. This would represent a tax rate equivalent of approximately 2.66 cents <br /> on the current property tax rate. <br /> County Support of Orange County Campus of Durham Technical Community College <br /> The recommended funding for the Orange County Satellite Campus of Durham Technical <br /> Community College, located at the Waterstone Development in Hillsborough, provides current <br /> expense funding of $628,929, recurring capital of $75,000, and debt service payments of <br /> $266,001. In addition, the recommended budget includes $50,000 for 50 scholarships (student <br />