Agenda - 11-01-2022; 8-a - Minutes

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24 1 Deon Temne said for a continuation budget, the Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools have 2 not been funded appropriately by the Commissioners so he thinks that starving is an appropriate 3 word. 4 Commissioner McKee said that appropriately is looked at differently by different 5 individuals and he must disagree. He wants to understand how they are addressing student 6 needs and achievement. He asked if TAs and tutors were added to the staff. He also asked if 7 the focus was on the classroom. 8 Deon Temne asked where that funding would come from for the additional tutors and 9 TAs. 10 Commissioner McKee said that the funding could have come from the fund balance that 11 staff had an increase of pay from. He said he realizes there is a balancing act but he wants to 12 make sure that the focus is on lower-performing students. He said that the presentations on 13 student achievement did not include a focus on lower-performing students. He said that he has 14 been willing to accommodate the needs of the schools but he is uncomfortable hearing that 15 Orange County is not doing all that it can, when the two school districts are #1 and #3 in funded 16 for the state. He said that maybe he is not understanding something, but he can't get by the fact 17 that they are well supported financially in relation to the other systems in the state. 18 Deon Temne said that respectfully, it is like the definition of empathy. He said that 19 people say that you have to walk in someone else's shoes to experience their life but that he 20 disagrees with that because it is impossible to walk in someone else's shoes. He said that he 21 does not think the Commissioners will ever truly understand. He said that when the district is 22 coming to them and saying it's not enough funding, but is met with comments that "it looks like it 23 is enough," shows the Commissioners do not understand and that the district is not being fully 24 supported. He said they are saying its not enough, showing the numbers, and then they hear 25 that the county has their backs, but he is uncomfortable with the word backstop because it is not 26 shown in actions. 27 Commissioner McKee said he would not continue the conversation because it will 28 become circular, but that he disagrees. 29 Riza Jenkins said that because the continuation budget was not funded they had to 30 cover those costs themselves. She said that the question about TAs, those are classified staff 31 positions, and that as a district they did a classified staff study. She said that state raises are for 32 certified staff and must be funded. She said that when they brought the expansion budget 33 request to the Commissioners it was not funded and that would have included the classified 34 staff, including teaching assistants and bus drivers. She said that is why they were so 35 committed as a Board to fund the classified staff because right now they are struggling to hire 36 teachers. She said it is not just a Chapel Hill and Orange County schools challenge it is a 37 national challenge. She said that yes they are the highest funded in the state, but not in the 38 country and they are competing for educators from across the country. She said that is where 39 they have to think and act differently because they must fund those positions. 40 Commissioner Richards said that this is an interesting conversation because the 41 Commissioners encouraged the district to spend down their fund balance. She said that when 42 they set a number they were saying that they had funds in excess of the fund balance target. 43 She said a need was identified, so the county asked them to spend the excess down. She said 44 they were the backstop in the sense that they had a budget and they set a number on what the 45 fund balance should be. She said there were competing needs and priorities. She supported it 46 because they were saying spend it to the 5%. She said that they may need to work together to 47 find where the funds come from. She said that she is struggling with the characterization of the 48 county because they are there in the interest of working together. She said that discussing the 49 fund balance percentage may need to be a different conversation. 50 Dr. George Griffin said the May 12th joint meeting had an item with a table that showed 51 county appropriations and supplemental taxes for education. He said that Chapel Hill Carrboro