Agenda - 03-07-2017 - 5-a - Orange County's Proposed 2017 Legislative Agenda

Browse Search

33 Public Education Approved Goals PE-1: Seek legislation to establish a new state-county partnership to address statewide public school capital challenges--including but not limited to maintenance, renovation, construction and debt--through a dedicated, stable funding stream that is consistent from county to county and sufficient to meet the school facility needs of all 100 counties. • Both economically depressed and rapidly-growing larger counties have struggled to adequately provide for school capital needs. • When the NC Education Lottery was enacted in 2005, 40% of the annual net proceeds were directed to the Public School Building Capital Fund to provide a sustainable source of revenue to help counties address these needs. • Since 2010, the General Assembly has set the lottery appropriation for school construction at $100 million, necessitating an alternate solution for meeting school capital needs. • The solution should encourage and foster innovation in school construction, financial efficiency, and provide all North Carolina public school students a safe and welcoming educational environment. • It should also guarantee a long term commitment to our most challenged counties, use the State's AAA credit rating strategically, and represent a 100- county solution. PE-2: Seek legislation to repeal the statutory authority under N.C. Gen. Stat. 115C-431 (c) that allows local school boards to file suit against a county board of commissioners over county appropriations for education. • G.S. 115C-431 (c) expressly authorizes school boards to sue counties over "sufficiency" of current expense or capital funding levels, leaving courts to determine sufficiency. • This statutory authorization creates an adversarial relationship between the school boards and the boards of county commissioners and has cost taxpayers millions of dollars in legal fees and litigation expenses. • In 2016, the General Assembly passed legislation directing the Program Evaluation Division to conduct a study of the issue, which is underway. PE-3: Support legislation to provide for an overall increase of funding based on average daily memberships outside of the current formula system. • State funding for education has increased over the past few years, but in high growth counties, those funds have not kept up with the pace of growth. • The current use of formulas directing state funding to counties that have small or even declining school populations has created an inefficient system. • Additional funding, apart from the current funding formula, that is based solely on average daily memberships is essential to adequately fund the education needs of all counties.