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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 19970506APPROVED 12/16/97 ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ORANGE COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD CHAPEL HILL/CARRBORO SCHOOL BOARD JOINT MEETING MAY 6, 1997 MINUTES The regular scheduled joint meeting of the Orange County Board Of Commissioners, the Orange County School Board, and the Chapel Hill/Carrboro School Board was held on Tuesday, May 6, 1997 at 7:30 p.m. at the A.L. Stanback Middle School, Highway 86, Hillsborough, North Carolina. ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS: Chair William L. Crowther, and members Margaret W. Brown, Stephen Halkiotis, Alice M. Gordon and Moses Carey, Jr. ORANGE COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD: Chair Bob Bateman and members David Kolbinsky, Larry Haverland, Susan Dovenbarger, Delores Simpson, and Rick Kennedy CHAPEL HILL/CARRBORO SCHOOL BOARD: Chair Mark Royster, and members Bea Hughes- Werner, Nicholas Didow, Mary Bushnell, Kenneth Touw, and Harvey Goldstein. Chair Bill Crowther convened the meeting at 7:30 p.m. SCHOOL FACILITIES: John Link, Orange County Manager, reported the following information • Status of the School/Park Concept: Options for the coordination of Parks & Recreation services throughout Orange County will be presented for discussion at the May 21st Board of Commissioners meeting. That report will incorporate comments from this meeting. He and the school superintendents intend to develop criteria for school/park siting after that meeting. These criteria will be presented to the Commissioners in August of 1997 in the form of a resolution or ordinance. • Agreements to Use School Facilities For Community Use: The County Manager and School Superintendents are working on how formalized agreements might be established which would ensure that when space for community use of schools is specifically budgeted in school constructionlexpansion/ modification projects, that those guarantees are documented. • Siting of New Schools: No criteria have been established to guide the school site selection process. The boards may wish to discuss some of the aspects that should be considered in any school siting decision. The County and School staffs could then prepare a school siting criteria policy (which would include school/park considerations) for action by the Board of Commissioners and the Boards of Education in August, 1997. • School Standards: There has been discussion that it would be a good idea to develop standards for new and existing high schools. John Link suggested that the boards may wish to review, discuss, and/or clarify the policies adopted by the Board of Commissioners in May, 1996 regarding school construction standards for middle and elementary schools in Orange County. He also mentioned that Commissioner Gordon has submitted a proposal suggesting that the use of the basic tier standards be extended to existing schools. Such a basic standard could serve as a goal for future school capital projects, and help guide planning for renovation and expansion projects. The floor was opened for comments and questions. These comments and questions are listed below: • Efland Cheeks is currently developing a park where a school now exists. • The financing of joint ventures is being reviewed by the County and Town Managers. They intend to recommend a joint Capital Improvement Plan for Recreation and Parks which would include Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Orange County. They will compare present plans and then discuss the possibilities and needs with the school systems in order to pursue planning for the schools capital needs for parks and recreation. • Depending on the particular school facility and current standards for the middle and high schools it is likely that the incremental facilities that would be built in for recreation and parks would be minimal and could be absorbed by the construction budget. A project such as Southern Village would require additional funding because the incremental expense would be considerably larger. • Each co-location will need to be tailored to the individual school. For example, a middle or high school might require a gym or auditorium and an elementary school might require additional recreational areas. • The Efland Cheeks community park development plan includes a gymnasium in its future stages. There are many issues that need to be kept in mind for this future development. • The basic school standards will remain in effect, however, there may be cases where a swimming pool would be needed in a particular area. That could be accomplished if it was consistent with the Recreation and Parks plan. • The Manager will present the proposal in the form of a Resolution or Ordinance. The intention would be that all schools would use the criteria that are established, however, each school would not necessarily have a park. • The benefit of having an approved plan is that it will make clear the balance between flexibility and equity. There was consensus that the Manager and Superintendents would pursue creating these joint criteria. In response to a question, Mark Royster explained that all after-school activities, including after-school care, are first cleared through the administrative offices at Lincoln Center. Then the principal is contacted to make sure that there is not a conflict about usage. For example, certain areas do not lend themselves to after-school care and therefore would not be used for that activity Commissioner Carey felt that a more formal agreement concerning community use of schools should be entered into between the County and the School Boards which would discourage unilateral changes and would encourage a deeper level of partnership. Commissioner Gordon agreed, however, she pointed out that there could still be different tiers for different schools, i.e. Basic School, Tier A, Tier B. She requested a copy of the Orange County School policy. Commissioner Carey requested that each policy regarding community uses be reviewed and that a consolidated policy be drafted into a formal agreement which would be signed by all parties. The Superintendents and Manager will meet to draft this policy. Commissioner Gordon mentioned that standards for high schools have not yet been established and it appears that will soon be necessary. Commissioner Carey agreed that standards would need to be established prior to planning for a new high school. Commissioner Gordon asked if there was consensus that the County and School Boards form a High School Standards Task Force to discuss and suggest official standards. She also felt that this group could develop a basic tier for existing schools as well. Although it would cost additional money she felt that applying the basic standards for new schools to existing schools was the right thing to do. These standards would be useful even if some schools were not able to meet them because of existing situations at the facility. Commissioner Brown mentioned that having a sufficient budget for repairs is critical for existing schools. School Board member Susan Dovenbarger agreed. She mentioned that some of the schools have fallen behind in maintenance and need to have extensive work done. Commissioner Halkiotis mentioned that there are factors involved in building schools that need to be considered before they are built and having partnership before the work is started could save money and prevent problems. He mentioned air quality and location of playing fields. There was consensus that the Manager and Superintendents meet to address the standards for existing schools to see if a target could be established. School Board member Rick Kennedy mentioned that these new high school standards would apply to Orange County as they are currently planning for a new high school. They would not immediately apply to Chapel Hill/Carrboro because they will not be building a new school in the near future. The standards might need to be reviewed again prior to applying them to the Chapel Hill/Carrboro School System. CHARTER SCHOOLS: Possible Impact of Charter Schools on the Local Budget: This item was considered to discuss the possible impacts of charter schools on local school budgets. Both the Chapel Hill-Carrboro and Orange County Superintendents presented information explaining the potential financial impact of these charter schools. The Orange County Schools estimate a possible net loss of $502,155. The Chapel Hill-Carrboro Schools estimate a possible net loss of $814,622. A discussion followed during which the following comments and statements were made. • The situation that the established school systems are facing is that they will lose only a small percentage of students across the entire range of classes, and so will not be able to reduce the number of classes. There will be virtually no savings for them but there will be a large loss of revenue from those students who are currently enrolled in a traditional system and choose the Charter Schools. • It was also pointed out that if one of the schools fail, the students will be re-enrolled in their original system, but the money will not be returned. • The original intent of the State Legislature was for Charter Schools to be funded in Counties where the local systems were failing the students. Orange County has had four (4) Charter Schools approved. It is also uncertain where the Charter Schools will be located. The location of the schools will greatly impact the area from which students will be enrolling. • It may be necessary for there to be continued discussion regarding how the money is allocated at the County level. It may not be effective to have six (6) different groups coming to the Commissioners for money. • The funding for a student enrolled in a Charter School comes from the school district in which they reside. • If a student is currently being home schooled, their funding would come from the school system in which they reside and that system would see no reduction in attendance but would see a reduction in funding. • There was agreement that the State of North Carolina would require Charter Schools to locate in the district in which they applied. EQUITY IN SCHOOL FUNDING: Sally Kost, Orange County Budget Director, presented this report. She mentioned that the intent of this discussion was to review the definition of funding equity and determine whether or not changes should be made to the definition as well as to report to the Board of County Commissioners the current status of funding equity between the Chapel Hill/Carrboro City Schools and the Orange County Schools. The definition that was agreed upon in 1989 was that "equity will have been accomplished when the total funding per student of one system is not more than four to five percent greater than that of the other system The definition of equity depends on the consideration of all major revenues to a school system, rather than only County-funded revenues." During discussion the following comments and statements were presented: • The difference in funding is due, in large part, to the Chapel Hill/Carrboro City School Systems district tax. • There are other formulas from the State which account for some other financial differences. • The current definition of equity was established in 1989 and could be changed if there was consensus to do that. • There is equity in the funding of County funds. • The Chapel Hill/Carrboro district tax has been decreased and the County tax has been increased to keep revenues moving toward equity. The participants agreed, by consensus, that there was not support to reduce or get rid of the district tax. CLOSURE ON SCHOOLS AND LAND USE COUNCIL: There was discussion concerning whether or not this group would have authority beyond communication, cooperation and coordination. Commissioner Gordon stated that the Council itself would discuss possible models for communication and coordination and then make a recommendation to the governing boards. It would be a purely advisory group. The impetus for creating this group is that all of the units of government have a piece of the responsibility for new schools. This would open up communication and coordination. There was also discussion about the ratio of members. It was mentioned that if the Council was created and found to be lacking direction that it could be disbanded. School board member Nick Didow stated that he felt satisfied that this would be a positive role for this Council as long as its role was limited to communication and coordination. The Chapel Hill-Carrboro School Board agreed to appoint two or three of their members to this Council at their next board meeting. There being no further items to discuss, the meeting was adjourned. The next regular meeting of the Board of Commissioners is a work session scheduled for May 15, 1997 at 7:30 p.m. This meeting will be held at the Government Services Center, 200 S. Cameron Street, Hillsborough. William L. Crowther, Chair Kathy Baker, Deputy Clerk