FOR YOUR INFORMATION: Education Planning and Funding

Many groups at both the state and local level are involved in discussing, planning for, or funding education in Wake County.

In just the past two months there have been several important actions with education implications. During a two-week period from late June to early July, for instance, both the Wake County Board of Commissioners and the North Carolina General Assembly approved their Fiscal Year 2007 budgets. Funds from these budgets make up more than 90 percent of the operating budget for the Wake County Public School System.

In this edition of Wake FYI, we take a closer look at several of the plans adopted recently in Wake County that have an effect on education in our community.

Local Operating Budget Planning and Funding

• The Wake County Board of Education and the Superintendent, along with the staff of the Wake County Public School System, lead planning for the school system with the annual passage of the Plan for Student Success, which outlines WCPSS’ educational priorities for the next school year. You can view the 2006-2007 Plan for Student Success online.

• This plan also contains the school system’s official operating budget request, which it presents to the Wake County Board of Commissioners each spring.

• At its June 19 meeting, the Wake County Board of Commissioners adopted its FY 07 budget. The total operating budget for the county is $851.8 million.

• Included in this budget is $276 million for the operating budget of the Wake County Public School System. This amount represents an 8.4 percent increase from the FY 06 operating budget, primarily to pay for the estimated 7,000 new students expected in the 2006-2007 school year.

• Approximately 34 percent of the school system’s operating budget comes from the Wake County Board of Commissioners’ budget.

• You can view the entire FY 2007 budget for Wake County or just the section on funding the WCPSS online.

• On May 16, the Wake County Board of Education approved a Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) covering 2007-2009.

• The purpose of the CIP is to map out capital needs such as the building of new facilities, the renovation of existing facilities and the purchase of furniture and technology.

• The plan was the result of an eight month process to identify goals and explore solutions to accommodate the projected enrollment growth.

• At the start of the process, the Board of Education and the Board of County Commissioners both adopted a set of assumptions in 21 areas to provide a common foundation for planning. These assumptions included:
  • Projections for students growth;
  • How often technology would be replaced; and
  • Consideration of multi-track year-round calendars for elementary and middle schools.

• Multiple scenarios were designed by school system staff, presented for discussion, and revised based on the feedback provided. The final plan included:

2007-2009 Capital Improvement Plan: Major Components

• In November 2006, Wake County taxpayers will be asked to approve the sale of $970 million in bonds. The bonds, when combined with existing cash, would finance this CIP. Additional bond referendums will be required to pay for facilities beyond 2009. (The 2006 bond referendum will be the topic of a Wake FYI this fall.)

• In June 2006, the Wake County Board of Education and Board of Commissioners created an advisory committee whose purpose is to review student enrollment projections, review data on school construction costs and evaluate opportunities to reduce construction costs.

• The committee is composed of Wake County residents with experience in construction, finance, and leadership of both public organizations and corporations.

• The committee will be led by a consulting firm with expertise in school construction.

• More information about the advisory committee, including a list of its members, is available online.

Blue Ribbon Committee on the Future of Wake County

• The Blue Ribbon Committee (BRC) was created in late 2005 to examine the growth needs projected for the next 25 years and recommend funding strategies for meeting those needs, including those of the public schools.

• The final report of the BRC was presented to the county commissioners at its July 17 meeting.

• The BRC identified $11.7 billion in capital needs the school system will have through the year 2030.

• The committee strongly endorsed the importance of reducing costs of capital programs and urged implementing other cost cutting measures prior to asking Wake County taxpayers to pay higher taxes.

• Key recommendations made by the committee on public school capital needs include:
  • Evaluate changes in school designs that reduce costs but improve efficiency, so long as educational experience is not impaired.
  • Seek state legislative change for increasing the cap on charter schools (at least in Wake County) to help reduce the capital needs of the local education agencies and counties.
  • Seek state legislative change for local systems and/or counties to have the authority to enter into public/private partnerships that may reduce costs on a long-term basis.
    Note: On July 17, the N.C. General Assembly passed a bill which would allow public/private partnerships to occur. See the July 18 article from The News & Observer for more details on this law.
  • Expand the use of year-round schools as a cost control.

• On July 10, Governor Mike Easley signed in to law the Fiscal Year 2007 budget for the State of North Carolina. Sixty percent of the operating budget for Wake County public schools comes from the state, with teacher salaries being the biggest item.

• Of the $18.7 billion FY 07 budget, 38.1 percent is allocated to K-12 education across the state, with an additional 14.6 percent of the budget going to the university and community college systems.

• The budget process typically occurs over several months and more or less officially begins with the governor presenting his budget request to the state legislature (this year in mid-May). The state legislature then works on its own versions of the budget, one from the House and one from the Senate, which are ultimately reconciled by a conference committee.

• You can view a comparison of the education portions of the adopted budget versus those originally proposed by the governor and General Assembly online.

• You can view the entire text of North Carolina’s FY 2007 budget online.

• Some of the most important (and expensive) components in the FY 07 budget are the increases approved for teacher and administrative pay. Teacher salary increases range from 6.5 percent to 14.1 percent, depending on the number of years’ experience a teacher has. In addition, principal and assistant principal salaries will increase on average by 7 percent, and central office employee salaries will go up by an average of 5.5 percent. You can view the full 2006-07 Teacher Salary Schedule online.

For More Information on Education Planning and Funding

• Visit the North Carolina General Assembly website for more information on the state budget, or to view the full text of education-related legislation such as the newly approved public-private partnership law: http://www.ncleg.net/
• Review historical state-level education budget information and other important data via the Public School Forum website: http://www.ncforum.org/
• Access a wide range of school financial data on the Department of Public Instruction’s Financial and Business Services website: http://www.dpi.state.nc.us/fbs/
• Check out the latest information on school construction, growth management, finance and other important matters on the Wake County Public School System website: http://www.wcpss.net