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18 <br />1 <br />As a result of House Bill 13, which modified class size ratios for kindergarten to third grade, <br />2 <br />both school districts have experienced a decrease in capacity for the 2017-18 school year at <br />3 <br />the 1 elementary school level. Futurechanges to class size ratios for the 2018-19 school year <br />4 <br />will be reviewed by the SAPFO Technical Advisory Committee (SAPFOTAC) in January. At that <br />5 <br />time, the SAPFOTAC will discuss the possible reconvening of the Joint Action Committee, <br />6 <br />comprised of representatives from the Orange County Board of Commissioners, the Orange <br />7 <br />County Board of Education, and the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education, in <br />8 <br />order to address potential modifications in class size ratios for the 2018-19 school year for <br />9 <br />SAPFO purposes. <br />10 <br />11 <br />In recent years, Pre-K enrollment has been a topic of discussion with both school districts. <br />12 <br />However, SAPFO has not been amended to include Pre-K in the membership and capacity <br />13 <br />numbers. Therefore, Pre-K children are not included in the membership and capacity numbers <br />14 <br />reported. <br />15 <br />16 <br />Chair Dorosin referred to thechart on last page that notes the class size ratio,and <br />17 <br />asked ifthat is the new ratio. <br />18 <br />Ashley Moncado said yes. <br />19 <br />Chair Dorosin asked ifthe decreases inelementary school enrollmentin both school <br />20 <br />districts are the result of children attending charter schools. <br />21 <br />Ashley Moncado said yes. <br />22 <br />Commissioner McKee asked if there is a way to gather information from the Charter <br />23 <br />schools, and their actual numbers, compared to their capacity, and how these figureinto the <br />24 <br />SAPFO numbers. He said charter schools are here to stay, and the Countyshouldfigure out a <br />25 <br />way to work with charter schools,so thatthey are not a detriment to the public schools. <br />26 <br />Ashley Moncado said they do monitor the charters,butthey do not have direct <br />27 <br />information from the charters. <br />28 <br />Commissioner Jacobs agreed andsaid the current tax bill is going to offer incentives to <br />29 <br />send childrento private schools. He said the Board should be more aggressive inreaching out <br />30 <br />to the charters to gather their projections,as the charter schools are almost becoming a parallel <br />31 <br />school system. <br />32 <br />Chair Dorosin said the charters donot have any incentiveto work with Orange County, <br />33 <br />but it would not hurtto reach out to them,because they do impact thepublicschool systems, <br />34 <br />and their funding. <br />35 <br />Commissioner McKee agreed with Chair Dorosin, and said it is important to <br />36 <br />acknowledge the presence of charter schools,and reach out for the benefit of the whole <br />37 <br />community. <br />38 <br />Commissioner Price concurred with Commissioner McKee. <br />39 <br />Chair Dorosin saidhe would be happy to reach out, but believes that charter schools <br />40 <br />present a threat to traditional public schools. <br />41 <br />42 <br />A motion was made by Commissioner Burroughs,seconded by Commissioner Rich for <br />43 <br />the Board toapprove the November 15, 2017 Membership and Capacity numbers as submitted <br />44 <br />by each school districtas contained in attachment 1. <br />45 <br />46 <br />VOTE: UNANIMOUS <br />47 <br />48 <br />e.Consideration of Approval of Additional Station for the Durham-Orange Light Rail <br />49 <br />Transit Project at Blackwell and Mangum Streets in Downtown Durham <br /> <br />