5-21-21 BOC Budget Work Session - Laserfiche WebLink

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local supplement from 7-10% a few years ago. The requested budget also includes an equivalent capital request to what the capital request was last year in terms of funding dollars. Commissioner Carver stated that he has met a lot with the Superintendent regarding the LEA. Lee County Schools currently ranks 15 in 115 in terms of pay. The idea behind the pay supplement is being advocates for employees and students so they have the best people in the classroom. There is also recruitment competition with the private and charter schools. The State requires that when a teacher leaves a position the position must be held for a year in case the teacher were to return, while the school also has to hire a person to cover the position. The schools are also looking toward the future in investing in more nurses and guidance counselors. There are some non-mandated programs the schools continue to provide but they are working toward streamlining the programs that have been offered and some are very popular and work with the local chamber and SAGA to develop skills in certain career areas. Commissioner Carver spoke about an initiative proposed to incentivize teachers to do more best practices as it relates specifically to performance grades and whether or not they have a program they could codify and share with other teachers. This is not a new idea for the LEA. He stated that the idea is that it would bring more focus to the possibility of improving grades. There would be a $10,000 line item allocated to this purpose. A report would be received at the end of the year detailing performance. This would be a pilot program and would be evaluated at the end of the year to determine its effectiveness moving forward. Dr. Bryan stated that the schools do a lot to support performance grades and he has worked with Commissioner Carver to talk about this program as an enhancement to what the schools do already. Commissioner Reives asked about an exit interview for teachers and what the reasons were for teachers leaving. John Conway, Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources stated that there are a lot of reason for exodus. In this hiring season, eight have left to go to Wake County. They don't always report where or why they are leaving. Dr. Crumpton stated there is a 2% increase for COLA proposed in the budget. There has also been discussion about what a 1% supplement would amount to. Commissioner Sharpe asked about the schools'request and whether it could impact being able to lower the tax rate. Dr. Crumpton responded that it could depending on the commissioners budget decisions and he recommended that if funded, that the 1/2 penny from the recommended tax reduction could be applied to the schools. Chairman Smith referred to North Carolina General Statute 115c-429 at the time of submission of the budget, the academic performance of the schools including the school performance grades of each school and any efforts made by the local board of education to improve those identified schools' performance shall also be submitted. Chairman Smith asked why more information was not included with the budget regarding school performance. There is one A performing school, Lee Early College, and there are some schools that rank in the Cs and Ds. In paragraph C of the statute, the Board of Commissioners shall have authority to call for and the Board of Education shall make available upon request all books, records, and audit records on the financial operations of the schools. Chairman Smith stated that they want the schools to improve and want to focus on making that happen and will do their best to provide it. Chairman Bowen stated that the Board of Education needs to function without someone scrutinizing policy changes that are approved through their Board's processes. Commissioner Carver spoke about the importance of the relationship and how the initiative that both Chairs have taken to get the Boards together has created a better atmosphere to work together going forward and the prospect of improving things coming out of the COVID situation is a precursor for good things to come.