HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 04-23-20; Item 4 - School Funding Equity between School Districts in Orange County 1
ORANGE COUNTY
BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT
Meeting Date: April 23, 2020
Action Agenda
Item No. 4
SUBJECT: School Funding Equity between School Districts in Orange County
DEPARTMENT: County Manager's Office
ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT:
A. Statewide Table of County and District Tax Travis Myren, 919-245-2308
Information
PURPOSE: To discuss school funding equity between the two School Districts in Orange
County.
BACKGROUND: This agenda item is in response to a petition by a Board member. In North
Carolina, each county is responsible for supplementing state and federal appropriations to
public education. State law requires the County to allocate current expense or operating funding
to each school system based on an equal per pupil amount. In addition to current expense
funding, counties provide funds to each system for recurring and long range capital projects.
These capital expenses are not required to be allocated on a per pupil basis.
The FY2019-20 budget provides $4,352.25 per student for each of the 20,408 students in the
two school systems. The Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools District was allocated approximately
$53.4 million in current expense funding based on an enrollment of 12,274 students. The
Orange County Schools District was allocated approximately $35.4 million in current expense
funding based on an enrollment of 8,134 students.
State law also allows Local Education Agencies (LEA) to levy special district taxes. District taxes
must be approved by referendum. Once the tax is approved, the Board of County
Commissioners formally approves the special district tax rate each year. Attachment A shows
the counties in the state that levy taxes for more than one school district and the special district
tax rates, if any, authorized in each of those Districts. The most recent data available from the
Department of Public Instruction is from 2017-18.
The Special District Taxes are only levied within the District's boundary. In FY2019-20, Chapel
Hill Carrboro City Schools maintained a special district tax rate of 20.18 cents per $100
assessed value. For this fiscal year, the special district tax is estimated to generate an additional
$1,977 per student or a total of $24,267,972. This additional per pupil funding increases per
pupil resources in the Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools District to a total of$6,329.25.
Based on the requirements of State law, the County cannot equalize the total per pupil amount
since it must provide the same per pupil funding for current expenses to each district. At this
time, the County does not have a way to equalize the total per pupil funding unless each district
authorizes the same special district tax or the existing special district tax is eliminated.
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FINANCIAL IMPACT: There is no direct financial impact associated with this item.
SOCIAL JUSTICE IMPACT: The following Orange County Social Justice Goal is applicable to
this item:
■ GOAL: ENSURE ECONOMIC SELF-SUFFICIENCY
The creation and preservation of infrastructure, policies, programs and funding necessary
for residents to provide shelter, food, clothing and medical care for themselves and their
dependents.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT: There is no Orange County Environmental Responsibility Goal
impact associated with this item:
RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends the Board discuss funding equity
between the school districts in Orange County.
Attachment A 3
Special District Tax Rates by Local Education Agency for 2017-18
County Tax Rate Special District Tax Total Tax Rate
Buncombe Asheville City Schools 0.539 0.12 0.659
Buncombe Buncombe County Schools 0.539 0 0.539
Cabarrus Cabarrus County Schools 0.7 0 0.7
Cabarrus Kannapolis City Schools 0.7 0 0.7
Catawba Catawba County Schools 0.575 0 0.575
Catawba Hickory City Schools 0.575 0 0.575
Catawba Newton Conover City Schools 0.575 0 0.575
Columbus Columbus County Schools 0.805 0 0.805
Columbus Whiteville City Schools 0.805 0 0.805
Davidson Davidson County Schools 0.54 0 0.54
Davidson Lexington City Schools 0.54 0.12 0.66
Davidson Thomasville City Schools 0.54 0.18 0.72
Halifax Halifax County Schools 0.78 0.01 0.79
Halifax Roanoke Rapids City Schools 0.78 0 0.78
Halifax Weldon City Schools 0.78 0 0.78
Iredell Iredell-Statesville Schools 0.5275 0 0.5275
Iredell Mooresville Graded School District 0.5275 0.185 0.7125
Orange Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools 0.8377 0.2018 1.0395
Orange Orange County Schools 0.8377 0 0.8377
Randolph Asheboro City Schools 0.6525 0.15 0.8025
Randolph Randolph County Schools 0.6525 0 0.6525
Sampson Clinton City Schools 0.825 0.145 0.97
Sampson Sampson County Schools 0.825 0 0.825
Surry Elkin City Schools 0.582 0.132 0.714
Surry ImountAiry City Schools 0.582 0.11 0.692
Surry ISurry County Schools 0.582 0 0.582