Agenda - Item 8-a - Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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9 Commissioner Jacobs thanked staff for providing additional information about State and 1 county funding. He said it may be useful next year to fill in the recessions on the recommended 2 school funding and average changes, as it makes the picture clearer. 3 Commissioner Jacobs said he was previously unable to remember the issue about the 4 differing reserve funds, but he was reminded that it was a period under a different CHCCS 5 superintendent where CHCCS had a different pool of money above the 5.5%, and the County 6 wanted to get this number to come down. He said those funds were a slush fund to allow the 7 superintendent to do as he pleased with County money. 8 Commissioner Jacobs said the County was funding more than it was getting, and there 9 was a long discussion that Orange County was the guarantor should the school districts’ money 10 run dry. He said the County would guarantee a certain minimum beyond the fact that the 11 County is the backstop for the schools, and the schools would guarantee that if funds ran dry, 12 no money would be held back in reserve, just in case. 13 Commissioner Burroughs asked if there is a reason why OCS is thinking about raising 14 the unassigned reserve fund balance. 15 Todd Wirt said there are several reasons, with one being that, over time, the free and 16 reduced lunch percentage has grown (43% overall), and OCS becomes more dependent on 17 Title 1 funds. He said these federal funds can be delayed, so in order to get at least the four 18 Title 1 schools up and running at the start of the year, sometimes a supplement of fund balance 19 is needed. He said he does not anticipate needing 5.5%, but rather would like to flexibility in 20 case there are circumstances like he just mentioned. 21 Commissioner Burroughs said this proposal seems reasonable to her. 22 Commissioner Price asked if there is a timeline for the BOCC to decide on the reserve 23 balance proposal. 24 Chair Dorosin said they need to decide on it right now. 25 Travis Myren said staff can prepare an amendment for the Board package on June 12th. 26 Chair Dorosin suggested taking the OCS reserve fund balance to 5.5%. 27 The Board of County Commissioners agreed by consensus. 28 Commissioner Marcoplos clarified that this change will have no impact on expenditures. 29 Todd Wirt said in the past, OCS has used its general fund for various reasons: to 30 balance the budget, pay for charter students, etc. He said OCS has stayed around 3%, and 31 has this used to fund for one-time expenses, or to balance its budget in the last 3 years. 32 Commissioner Jacobs asked Travis Myren if he would add an outline of the purposes for 33 spending/not spending the fund balance to the agenda abstract. 34 Chair Dorosin asked the school districts if there were any additional comments this 35 evening. 36 Todd LoFrese said the Chapel Hill High Project will begin with a groundbreaking 37 ceremony on June 12th, and all are very excited to get this project started. 38 Todd Wirt said charter students numbers have risen a lot, and OCS is taking what it is 39 experiencing very seriously. He said it is difficult to predict why families are making the choice 40 to pursue charter schools, but nearly 60% of the OCS eligible students that are enrolled in 41 charter schools have never set foot into an OCS school. He said OCS is also getting some 42 students back from charter schools. 43 Todd Wirt said some of the information out there is not based on fact, and he read some 44 statistics about OCS and charter schools. 45 Todd Wirt said OCS is not failing, and the staff is doing very good work. He said he 46 does not know why families are choosing other school options, but he said he does not believe 47 families are running from a system that is doing well for 91% of families that make OCS their 48 first choice. 49