Agenda - 09-23-2002 - 1 - Laserfiche WebLink

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APPROVED 9119102 Lisa Stuckey asked who decides student projection methodology. Margaret said this task force has that responsibility. Craig Benedict explained the process that the local government attorneys, managers, and staff(a technical team will address first,then turn o6er to be digested by whatever other group)will work on for SAPFO issues. Dana noted that Orange County Schools' (OCS) concerns are projections, capacity, and start up of schools. There's building the.school, then operating impacts and getting us over the hump of starting up a new school. She would like to have some group work on a process for opening anew school: In response to Lisa's request for clarification, Dana explained she is talking about the constraints that are faced when you have two school systems. When they open new schools in different years, it's hard to have the flexibility to address one system's need. Margaret asked staff to bring back historical information on costs to open new schools. Alice mentioned that Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools(CHCCS) district tax has been used to address start up costs, but per pupil/operating funds have to be used to address OCS operating startup costs. John Link explained in response to Lisa's question that CHCCS district tax can be used for either operating or capital, but traditionally special district taxes have been used for operating. Margaret concurred with Alice that we need to 'dill in the blanks" on SAPFO. There was consensus with that observation. Craig briefly explained the various methodologies that have been used on student projections. Those have been provided during the past year to take historical and current data to project 10-year student numbers. Some are conservative, some liberal, and differ on which year they might suggest a new school would be needed. The Schools and Land Use Council (SLUC) suggests averaging the 5 projection methodologies as a basis for feeding SAPFO and the County's Capital Investment Plan (CIP). SAPFO anticipates that each year you take current data and update projections. Maybe over time one methodology will be demonstrated to be more accurate. Updates create a resulting growth rate. All jurisdictions must consider those when they contemplate land use or zoning changes. We must see if the CIP supports the updated projections. High projections lead to accelerated capital needs, low projections mute the capital needs. SLUC thinks we should use the average of methods for the first couple of years. Technical teams would take pure mathematical calculations, nothing political —updated numbers would.go to the County Commissioners and other parties to agreement for comment, with the Commissioners making the decisions thereafter. The attorneys have been working to make this as legally defensible as possible, and want to base it on mathematics and technical matters.