Minutes 09-29-2022 Joint Meeting with Schools

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25 Dr. George Griffin said the May 12th joint meeting had an item with a table that showed county appropriations and supplemental taxes for education. He said that Chapel Hill Carrboro is at the top of the table for per pupil funding. He said that includes supplemental funding by the special district tax rate. He said that is a pass through tax that has been around since 1909 and that it is paid for entirely by the tax payers in the Chapel Hill Carrboro City School District. He said that the rate is set by the Board of County Commissioners, but that it is confusing when those funds are blended in with the per pupil spending. He said if you remove the special tax district funds the amount per pupil is $4,367 provided per pupil from the general fund from the Orange County Commissioners. He said that puts them on an even par with several other districts across the state, despite the high cost of living in the Chapel Hill/Carrboro area. He said the point that we are not ahead of anyone on per pupil spending from the general fund should be taken and that the special district tax funds be removed from the discussion. He said that even if they are on the top of the North Carolina per pupil spending chart, they remain below the national average. He said that in regard to continuation funding, that the County's website highlights a $441 per pupil increase. He said the reality is that last year's was $0 and it was $15 the year before that. He said that if you average the funding from the Commissioners for the last three years, it puts them in the bottom three years of funding for the last 37 years. He said that the funding effort that has been made is not as strong as it has historically been. He said that he is not complaining, but he would like the data to be out there so that people know what they are talking about. Chair Will Atherton discussed the budget needs for Orange County Schools. He discussed the increases for staff with 1-20 years of experience. He said that retaining and recruiting qualified staff is important. He said that they provide years of service credit for teachers. He said the result is that they are attracting more experienced teachers. He said they continue to see how to compensate those above 20 years. He said they provided a years of service credit. He said that the change allows employees with previous experience to transfer with their years of service. He said they increased driver pay, and that they are able to maintain bus routes despite vacancies by having staff drive buses. He said that some of the challenges they have had included the 4% mandated increases. He said they also have a .375% increase in their own budget. He said that the mandated state increase was estimated to be at 3%. He said that the state funding required fully implementing K-3 classroom sizes as mandated by the state legislatures. He said they have frozen all district staff positions. He said that teachers are having to cover other classes during their planning periods. He said they used lapsed salary to pay teachers for covering other classes. He said that by asking them to do additional work, the district wants to compensate them. He said there is a $500,000 shortage in the budget that they would like assistance with from the county. Bonnie Hauser said that they were very happy to receive a $441 increase per pupil. She said the consultant recommended that they give 1.5% staff increases, but they were able to do .375%. She said there are still more positions they would like to focus on that are related to equity. Dr. Felder said they have partnered with EdCorp to bring in tutors for K-2 students. She said they are utilizing Elementary and Secondary Schools Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds for staff to provide tutoring to the students. Commissioner McKee said he appreciated the efforts for tutoring by Orange County Schools. He said if those children are behind in K-2 it is a tremendous effort for them to catch up. He said that his son needed private tutors to keep up and he undertands this need personally. Commissioner Bedford asked for clarification on stipends for teachers covering other classrooms.