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<br />~. <br />ORANGE COUNTY <br />BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br />Meeting Date: May 15, 2001 <br />Action Agenda <br />Item No. ~{j - ~ <br />SUBJECT: Department of Public Instruction Forms -School Capital Needs Survey <br />DEPARTMENT: County Manager PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No <br />ATTACHMENT(S): <br />OCS Capital Needs Survey <br />CHCCS Capital Needs Survey <br />INFORMATION CONTACT: - <br />Randy Bridges, 732-8126 <br />Neil Pedersen, 967-8211 <br />Rod Visser, 245-2300 <br />TELEPHONE NUMBERS: <br />Hillsborough 732-8.181 <br />Chapel Hill 968-4501 <br />Durham fi88-7331 <br />Mebane 336-227-2031 <br />PURPOSE: To review submissions to the State Department of Public Instruction by the <br />County's two school systems regarding their capital facility needs through FY 2007-08. <br />BACKGROUND: The North Carolina General Statutes require local boards of education to <br />submit long-range capital facility plans to the State Department of Public Instruction (DPI) every <br />five years. The Orange County Schools and Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools have prepared <br />submissions using DPI stipulated survey farms to outline all improvements and additional <br />facilities needed to accommodate projected enrollments through the 2007-08 academic year. <br />Although there is no statutory requirement that Boards of County Commissioners approve the <br />capital facility plans prepared by school boards, DPI staff have indicated that the State would <br />like for County Boards of Commissioners to have the opportunity to review those submissions. <br />Staff recommends that the Board treat this DPI request as merely a courtesy review <br />opportunity. The new school facilities outlined in the OCS and CHCCS surveys are consistent <br />with the needs identified by both school boards during the Capital Needs Advisory Task Force <br />process for the planned November 2001 bond referendum: It should be noted that the specific <br />dollar costs of the various projects listed in the surveys do not necessarily coincide with the <br />anticipated budgets for the various renovation and new school projects. OCS and CHCCS <br />school staffs were obliged to prepare these reports via DPI's electronic forms that used <br />statewide assumptions about capacity and square foot costs, for example. OCS and CHCCS <br />staff could not make adjustments to these State-supplied forms to use figures that are <br />consistent with the BOCC-approved School Construction Standards that OCS and CHCCS use <br />to prepare their school capital project budgets. Accordingly, staff recommends that the Board <br />simply review and pass along the surveys to DPI as prepared by the school systems, and rely <br />