Agenda - 09-28-2017 - Attachment B - Orange County Schools Supplemental Information

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ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: September 28, 2017 AGENDA ITEM No. ACTION ITEM: (YIN) SUBJECT: Information from Orange County Schools on Specific Agenda Topics INFO. CONTACT: Dr. Todd Wirt, Superintendent PHONE: (919) 732-8126 ATTACHMENTS: 1. State Mandated Class Size Impacts 2. Bond Project Fund Allocations 3. Intergovernmental Agreement with Orange County 4. Agenda July 25, 2017 SRO Symposium PURPOSE: To provide information to the Boards of Education and County Commissioners to facilitate discussion during the September 28 joint County-Schools meeting. BACKGROUND: Class size See Attachment 1 regarding class size legislation impact for Orange County Schools. Living Wage Orange County Schools was recognized as an Orange County Living Wage Employer beginning in FY2016 and continues to offer living wage to its employees as prescribed by Orange County. In addition, the State's FY2018 budget included funding ear-marked for increasing bus driver pay statewide. OCS received approximately $112,862 for its drivers. On September 11, the Board of Education approved a salary schedule for bus drivers that increases driver pay by an average of ninety cents ($0.90) per hour, making driver pay in Orange extremely competitive with surrounding districts. With this change, all drivers exceed the current living wage level and approximately 27% of drivers exceed $15 per hour. OCS currently contracts with a private firm for custodial service at nine of its 13 schools. An Alternate Bid obtained during the initial solicitation in 2016 would have increased the bid cost over $245,000 for the bidder to pay all employees a wage commensurate with Orange County's living wage at that time. Funding constraints prohibited the award of the Alternate Bid. Recent discussions have challenged District staff to consider options to the contract service delivery model. Preliminary cost data indicates a minimum of $500,000 additional funding would be required to support an all OCS staff custodial service. County Commissioners are aware of the OCS Board of Education's desire to continue to honor its employees through a living wage commensurate with that set by the County. However, the Board of Education is concerned about the long-term viability of meeting the $15/hour living wage intended for FY2018 given funding constraints anticipated in the FY2018 budget.