Agenda - 12-11-1991 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

As is the case in most counties, growth is not occurring at a uniform rate in all portions of Orange County. Your own planning department has prepared a comprehensive study which documents that most major, recently constructed or approved housing developments are located in the southern portion of the county. Obviously, the challenge to planners and to you as commissioners is to build new schools where the greatest growth has occurred or where it is projected to occur. Past enrollment trends, as well as projected enrollments, are quite clear about which of the two school districts is growing. Eight years ago membership in each school district was approximately 5000 students.. Last year Orange County had 4991 students in membership, only 32 students more than in 1983 -84. Chapel Hill's membership was 6005, an increase of 980 students. These enrollment trends continue today. Kindergarten enrollment is an excellent forecaster of total enrollment during the next decade. Orange County's kindergarten enrollment this year is 400 students, 4 students fewer than were enrolled five years ago (1986 -87). Chapel Hill Carrboro, on the other hand, enrolled 515 kindergartners this year, a 31 % increase during this same time period. The State's projections indicate that 70% of the student enrollment increase which is projected to occur between 1988, the year of the last bond referendum, and 1998 will occur in the Chapel Hill - Carrboro district. If almost three - quarters of the additional students enroll in our district, is it not reasonable that three - quarters of the available funds should be used to construct the schools which their presence demands. In closing, I urge you to follow the advice of your advisory committee. Orange County needs to construct four new schools if it is to avert the facility crisis which Wake and Durham Counties face today. The data support the conclusion that the Chapel Hill - Carrboro Schools require three new schools to provide classroom space for its projected student population. Orange County needs a new middle school to replace Stanback and to relieve overcrowding at Stanford. I urge you to formulate a bond package which focuses on these critical needs and produces four schools designed to meet the educational challenges faced by our communities in the 21 st century.