Orange County NC Website
<br />Education Funding in Orange. County <br />In North Cazolina, each county is responsible for supplementing state appropriations to public education. <br />Local current expense appropriations aze allocated to each school system based on an equal amount per <br />pupil. In addition, counties provide funds to each system for recurring and long-range capital projects. <br />School systems in North Cazolina do not have separate taxing authority and aze not allowed to issue debt <br />for school construction and renovation projects. Therefore, issuance and repayment of long-term debt, <br />such as general obligation bonds and private placement loans, are the responsibilities of county <br />government. Many city school units in the state also have special district taxes. These voter-approved <br />taxes, levied within the unit's boundaries, further supplement county funding. <br />Historically, the Orange County Board of County Commissioners has given top priority to funding public <br />schools. The County's number one ranking in total education funding in the state evidences this. The <br />chart to the right compares Orange <br />County's total 1998-99 General : <br />Fund appropriations for education <br />to several other counties in the <br />State. As the graph indicates, <br />Orange County's total spending <br />per pupil is almost twice the State <br />average.. sa.ooo <br />s2,soo <br />Recently, the Boadd of County s2~0°° <br />Commissioners asked the County s'~0° <br />Manager to look at various s''0°° <br />alternatives far funding public ~0° <br />education in Orange County and to s0 0~ ~ n.._ ~~. ~.. "~. a,..e Fwd ~...... <br />develop pazameters for future "~"~` <br />funding.. This. report contains ^o~~co~mY^s~mamgco~~^su~na.~ <br />possible funding models that' the <br />Boadd may choose for the Manager <br />to use as he develops the annual ' <br />recommended budget four schools. While this approach guides staff in developing the annual budget, each <br />yeaz the Board can consider departures from the recommendations based upon particulaz one-time <br />circumstances. such as start up costs for new facilities. <br />Staff contacted several counties .throughout the state to determine what, if any, funding formulas are <br />currently in use. The counties responding to the survey included: <br />• Alamance • Brunswick • Chazlotte- <br /> Mecklenburg <br />• Chatham. • Durham • Forsyth <br />• Guilford • Lincoln • Moore <br />• New Hanover • Pitt • Scotland <br />• Surry • Wake <br />Eight of the responding counties use formulas or other guidelines to determine school funding (as shown <br />in Figure 2 on the following page).. Staff found few similarities in county funding for school systems. <br />Some counties use a formula for current expense funding only .while other counties use a formula to <br />