Minutes 04-28-2020 Virtual Joint Meeting w-Schools

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11 Commissioner Dorosin referred to the charter school numbers, and said OCS is getting close to 12% of its students in charter schools. He said there are tipping points where the public schools are adversely affected, once a certain percentage of students are in enrolled in charter schools. He asked if OCS is seeing any affects thus far. Rhonda Rath said OCS did see a reduction in teachers in the two previous fiscal years with 10 positions lost. She said she does not think OCS has been unable to offer courses, or let any teachers go, as a result of the charter schools. She said State mandated class size restrictions on K-3 have required more teachers so the students moving to charter schools has not resulted in the letting go of any teachers go. Chair Rich asked if Commissioner Dorosin knows the percentage where the tipping point occurs. Commissioner Dorosin said around 15% may be where one starts seeing impact. He said it depends on the types of charters that exist. Commissioner Dorosin clarified that OCS wants $1 million to fund $1000 bonuses, and asked if that means OCS has around 1000 employees that would be eligible for that bonus. Rhonda Rath said yes. Commissioner Dorosin asked if that will include all employees: teachers, office staff, superintendent, principals, etc. Rhonda Rath said OCS has not thought through the semantics that deeply, but basically everyone at a high level will be included as none of those people mentioned by Commissioner Dorosin received any type of pay increase this past fiscal year. Superintendent Felder said it would not include the Superintendent. Commissioner Dorosin said it would include all other high level staff, as it is currently envisioned. Rhonda Rath said yes. Commissioner Dorosin said there is going to be money coming from the federal and state governments, and asked if those funds will be calculated to be utilized for this budget, or supplemental and used in other ways. He said if the schools know the answer to this question it would be helpful for the BOCC to know. He said there is already approximately $500,000 from the State given to both districts, and he asked if there is a plan to spend this money. Commissioner Dorosin said it is clear that there are a lot of children suffering trauma, as a result of Covid-19, and there is going to be a need for counselors and resources to support children and the classrooms. He asked if there is any plan to put in additional resources in for trauma support, and if this may be put in place even before schools re-open. Rhonda Rath referred to the financial piece of the questions, and said the $200,000 OCS received from the State is being spent to support the additional compensation that is being offered to staff that have continued to report to work during the stay at home order, and thus put themselves at risk to serve the students and families. Rhonda Rath said OCS has some increased costs for mailing remote learning packages to those students who do not have access to the Internet. She said costs are also being leveraged for the additional hot spots. Rhonda Rath said OCS has received an estimate of $900,000-$1 million in federal funds, for which OCS must apply with a budget. She said some of the stipulations OCS has received regarding the spending of these funds are purchasing sanitary supplies, mental health services, and devices for students and staff for remote learning. She said OCS does not know, at this point in time, what the long term learning environment will entail. She said OCS hopes to be able to apply for these federal funds by May 1st. She said the state funds are very restricted in how they can be spent. Commissioner Dorosin asked if OCS could update the BOCC if/when the federal dollars are received, and how they will be allocated.