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