It's looking like county commissioners had a pretty good reason to question enrollment projections for the school district.
As noted in today's article, it's not looking good that the school district will get the $3 million that commissioners withheld this year. Commissioners provided $316.2 million, with another $3 million in a reserve fund if enrollment met projections.
"The expectation is they'll get the $316 million, not the $319 million due to the slower growth," said Joe Bryan, chairman of he board of commissioners.
Commissioners withheld the money after enrollment fell short by 2,084 students last year. While school board members and administrators disagree, commissioners say the district got millions it shouldn't have received last year due to the enrollment shortfall.
This year, Wake would need to get 2,642 more students by Day 20 to reach the enrollment projection of 140,443 students used in this year's budget. Reaching the school district's revised enrollment of 139,247 students, a daunting prospect at this point, won't help.
As a precaution, the school district is working off the $316.2 million total this year. This means not getting the $3 million won't lead to additional cuts.
Still, Rosa Gill, chairwoman of the school board, said she thinks they'll ask for the $3 million anyway. Both Bryan and Commissioner Tony Gurley said they don't expect that request would be met.
Gurley added that he'd ask the school board to turn over some of the $316.2 million that's being provided. He'd ask for $2,197 for every student that the district winds up being below projection for this year.
That kind of request would be non-binding on the school district.
Comments
Off-Topic, but a great example.....
Sun, 09/14/2008 - 00:19 — Uncle Ruckus (not verified)If the number four school system in America can FIRED their School Super, after being named "Super of the Year" by the Big Ed community, why can't we?
http://www.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/MI97133/
Seems like Metro-Dade, FL has the same problems as WCPSS.
From that article: But
Sun, 09/14/2008 - 11:45 — Dadof3From that article:
Those parents didn't know what a good thing they had, didn't they?
Thanks, Ruck, may we suffer the same fate. All we need is a BoE with education as their MAIN focus. Hurry up Nov. 2009!
Eureka! it CAN be done,
Sun, 09/14/2008 - 11:44 — bigwinnieEureka! it CAN be done, but not by THIS BoE
School pride = increased graduation rates
Fri, 09/12/2008 - 13:47 — shearertwI wonder if they (the BoE(eR)) ever considered the effects lack of school pride has on graduation rates. How many students dislike school but go any way because that's where their friends are and they're having a great time on the football, soccer, baseball, basketball, etc. team? I know I fell into that category at 16-17 yrs old. Imagine if your 16 yrs old and football is the only thing keeping you in school. Next year, you're told you have to change high schools, try out for a new team (perhaps your old rival), play for a new coach, new system, etc. Now you at a new school, no friends, no football, no fun.... Think you grades might suffer? Think you might think about quiting?
ABSOLUTELY!! We moved
Fri, 09/12/2008 - 13:53 — Lisa_BABSOLUTELY!!
We moved every 2 + years growing up, and I have to admit it was tough. Our moves were always to another state so we didn't have the "in county rivalries" to contend with. Having a strong family unit was what made the moves "bearable" and we were all fortunate to be involved in athletics and made instant friends once we arrived and joined the teams.
Being forced to leave a school is hard, but especially for a high schooler. I think that it would be ESPECIALLY hard if you weren't involved in sports or other school activities and had to leave your school friends when your physical address didn't even change.
Also in my neighborhood....
Fri, 09/12/2008 - 11:20 — shearertwAlso in my neighborhood are some fine folks from Canada, England, Australia, Germany, Russia, China, Japan, and India (just to name a few). Imagine if all our children went to the same school!
Thank you Dad....
Fri, 09/12/2008 - 11:16 — shearertwThanks Dad for placing the proper meaning on diversity. In fact, I bet I could find someone in my neighborhood from each of the towns George mentions. I can think of 3 of the 4 already. According to the BoE, however, these people and their children are clearly not worth knowing unless they can't pay for their own lunch.
Another CC Trophy!
Fri, 09/12/2008 - 10:53 — g88ky07At 'a boy CC's, keep taking it away from them and by the time they are all FIRED or REPLACED maybe they'll get it, on the way out the door.
"Still, Rosa Gill, chairwoman of the school board, said she thinks they'll ask for the $3 million anyway."
Ask all you like dumb and denying Rosa, BUT YOU AIN'T GETTIN' IT!
It's called accountability, something you think you don't have to do, but guess what, YOU DO!
More accountability, a defeated bond will hand you more of that next year!
P R O M I S E!
I'm hoping . . .
Fri, 09/12/2008 - 11:05 — Bob_Sconce. . . beyond hope that the bond is approved, but that the 4 board members up for re-election are booted out on their keesters and replaced by more responsible members. Even though my property taxes just went up, I would easily vote to raise them again, if I thought they'd be spent wisely. Unfortunately, the current board doesn't give me that confidence.
And your point is....
Fri, 09/12/2008 - 10:51 — shearertwGeorge,
Wonderful George. Perhaps you learned to speak Bostonian, Austonian and Seatletonian. Other that the weather, there's really not much difference in the view point for those three locations. So while the people may have looked different, they spoke the same crap. I'm not sure about Jacksonville. The point here is that your parents chose that lifestyle for you. Perhaps its a fine life, I don't mean to knock it, but one of the main reasons I left the military was to bring some stability to my children. I then made the mistake of moving to Wake Co., where stability is not possible. Diversity is not even remotely the issue here. My neighborhood is plenty diverse. The problem is they kids in my neighborhood go to 5 different ES alone!
Ibid
Fri, 09/12/2008 - 11:10 — Dadof3There is an inherent uniqueness to every individual, thereby meaning if you have 3 people, you have a rich diversity of humanity, and then there's the superficial diversity that make social engineers hop about.
We were once wisely admonished for failing to assess the content of one's character, in lieu of one's melatonin. Now is a good time to remember that call.
School Pride Is Important
Fri, 09/12/2008 - 10:48 — Lisa_BNice story shearer:
I do think it's a shame that kids can't know with certainty that they'll be attending XXHS when they get older. School Spirit is AWESOME.
Leesville has a very unique situation in Wake County in that we are a campus that has 3 PHYSICALLY connected schools. You can actually walk from the Elementary School through the Middle School into the High School without going outside. There are many ways that the students from the different schools interact which helps all of the kids. Leesville Pride is all around. On any given day you will find MANY kids at the ES and the MS wearing "Leesville Loonies" t-shirts (the shirt that the HS students wear to all of the athletic events) School spirit is HIGH, but in all honesty, who knows if all of these kids will be able to attend Leesville High School when they're old enough.
I wasn't here when WCPSS was trying to sell the "campus concept" to the people in NW Wake County. I spoke with a friend who was, and evidently it was a "tough sell" because parents didn't want their little ES students to be going to school too close to the big-bad-high-school-students. Flash forward to 2008 and the interaction between the schools is WONDERFUL and cherished and we're fortunate to have it. BUT, now that they've converted our ES to MYR it has not only split the community, it's split families. With a new YR ES coming 1 year later there was NO REASON to force MYR on Leesville ES, but they did.
We're extremely hopeful for reversed MYR conversions so that we can get that positive attitude back in our community. I can't imagine what I'd do with my time if I wasn't fighing MYR 24/7 anymore, but I can DREAM about what that might actually be like....
Happy (hopefully dry) Weekend Everyone!
sense of place
Fri, 09/12/2008 - 10:34 — george32i grew up in a military and then defense contractor family and rarely attended the same school for even part of two years in a row. while i did not develop loyalty to a particular insular community (except where my i visited my maternal grandparents for a few weeks in the summer) i did grow up with a tremendouis appreciation of the tremendous diversity of this country. i am sometimes envious when friends speak of sharing every experience since kindergarten, i am more often thankful that i was exposed to areas as different as boston, austin, seattle and jacksonville. i think it also made me more able to cope with a large world populated with a dizzying array of people.
George- You are an exception
Fri, 09/12/2008 - 21:36 — Voice_of_Reason_I grew up in a small town and know how community and schools go hand in hand. I also did 24 years in the military. I can't tell you how many times I had to deal with issues with subordinates because of moving from school to school in the CONUS (USA for laymen). I do know overseas the schools DOD personnel's children go to are great, and that's probably because they pay handsomely for good teachers and have no lack of volunteers. What you talk about is a non-issue here because Wake's residents are very diverse due to the large influx of skilled workers, jobs, and internal migration.
School District Sizes
Fri, 09/12/2008 - 10:25 — WuptdoSort of funny that district size is coming up. The Town of Cary is looking at re-arranging his voting districts due to large growth centers, others say it is gerrymandering to protect one council member from those big bad folks that live on Davis Drive & High House Roads. The populations for Board seats is way out of whack for the School Board, with Raleigh members dominating at the expense of folks in the county. I have said this before, but there is an out right hatred by "inside-the-beltline" school board members against those "crazy people" out in the County.
The first and the best step would be to undo the damage done by the NCGA in the mid-70's, i.e., give the City of Raleigh back it's school system. That would be a win/win for all. From that point, lets see what happens with just a county-wide school system, run by good people from the county.
Folks must also consider the "village" concept that occurs in the United States. Most folks, depending on where they live and work, develop a sense of this is "my" village. For folks in Cary/Apex, it might be centered around their home, plus add 15 miles in either direction -- that becomes their "village." In Raleigh, that would be reduced to 15 blocks from their home and that become their "village." People like their villages and want to protect them, especially if they have children in those villages. The problem is, most folks don't consider the WHOLE of Wake County as their village -- but the School Board does, and there is the problem, and this is where the "social engineering" fails so badly. I look at folks who live in Raleigh, the same way I do if they lived in NYC, Atlanta, LA, or D.C. -- not in my village, not my problem. Raleigh, North and East Wake are NOT in my village, therefore NOT my problem. That is why a smaller school systems are needed, especially in area's like our. We want to take care of our OWN village schools.
Has anyone ever told the BoE(eR) that the Soviet Union failed?
rr77rr99
Fri, 09/12/2008 - 10:10 — shearertwrr77rr99,
To these socialist buffoons, school pride and sense of community are dangerous things. If they allow that to occur, you might actually have large numbers of parents getting involved and showing up around the schools and at BoE meetings. Can't have that. They might find out what the H is going on. Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, one school (or community) might actually out perform another. Definately can't stand for that happening.
Bear with me while I tell this story once again....
I formerly lived in Texas, not a Texas native but moved there for a job. As many of you may know, football is somewhat of a religion out there (think Friday Night Lights). A year or so after we moved there, my "community" school system decided they were going to vote on a bond to fund a new football stadium among several other sports related facilities and a few academic related structures. The bond was for 57 million, 17 of which was for the FB stadium alone, a huge number for this relatively small community. Although I think sports are very important and played FB through college myself, I voted not no but HeL2 NO!. My property taxes were too high already (I thought) and that was just rediculous for a FB stadium (I thought). Bond passed easily without my vote. A year or so later, stadium is built, first FB game of the year against a neighboring community. About 30 minutes before the game, I decide I'm going take my 2 young daughters to the game and try and see what my disgruntled tax dollars purchased. Needless to say, me and my two daughters walked over a mile from our parking spot. We arrive in our seats into a sea of orange and black (school colors, excuse me, entire school system's colors) about 30 minutes after the game had started. Kids from all ages everywhere, cheering for their HS to be one day. Sitting in front of me is a woman with a T-shirt on that says (paraphrasing now), "Average income - x, average home price y, average kids per home x, etc, etc. and finally watch the Bear Cats beat "who ever it was" in our new 17 million dollar stadium, PRICELESS!" I instantly realized how stupid and short-sighted my vote had been. The pride for that school system was unstoppable. The PTA almost had to meet in secrecy to prevent too many parents from showing up. Every class room had to turn away volunteers. Every teacher in the area fought to work there. I've been here almost two years now and my young, ES school age kids still consider themselves Bear Cats. Ask your kids if the even know what their school colors and mascot are? Shameful.
Don't get the parents of
Fri, 09/12/2008 - 13:06 — Anonymous (not verified)Don't get the parents of high school students in new schools started about high school sports around here. Ouch.
It's a very sore spot. Lots of politicing going on for more money for sports, not enough to go around and new schools that open... they are begging for more money to get stuff up and running.
Problem is.. look at Panther Creek, it's so overcrowded they are no looking to send some kids out, (Maybe back to Cary HS). Then I hear tale Middle Creek HS is under enrolled and there has to be a reassignement there.. who's going there? The kids that just started at Holly Springs High School or Fuquay?
Can you imagine being a parent that just laid out $200 or so to join a booster club, paid for ads in the programs, bought "spirit wear", donated to various sports teams with money, food, construction talent, equipment, mowing fields, painting lines, knitting scarves, cleaning bleachers...whatever... then next year your kid is moved and you are "respending" money for a new booste club, new uniforms, new everything?
Do you think the WCPSS BOE and administrators think about all of that?
Why don't you go ask some Yankee Fans to become Boston Fans (and visa versa) year after year, keep switching up your " allegiance " and see what happens....
No, "pride" in your school is not allowed to exist in Wake County, oh, unless you have your checkbook open and are making donations... that's the ONLY way WCPSS wants parents to show "pride".
And another thing...
Fri, 09/12/2008 - 09:33 — shearertwAs of right now, the suburban areas with the parents and children that are really responsible for winning those awards for WCPSS are grossly under represented on the school board. Just take a look at the number of kids Ron M. represents compared to any of the other board members, especially those ITB, and you will see the desparity. T-bone, next time, think (and research) before you type.
Nice try
Fri, 09/12/2008 - 08:24 — shearertwNice try tbone but....
WCPSS has received national awards because the people handing out the awards are like-minded socialistic econoengineers as well. Neighborhood school models have worked in several parts of the country and have consistently proven superior to large school districts overall. One of the problem with large school districts is that they tend to compare themselves to each other and not smaller districts across the country. You see that quite often with WCPSS comparing themselves to real "urban" school disctricts as if Wake Co. were any where near urban in comparison to places like NY, San Diego, LA etc. The small neighborhood school disctrict in a rapidly growing area I moved from destroys WCPSS in every way. There is no ground swell of support here for the schools because WCPSS policies purposely snuffs it out.
Overall WCPSS is doing quite well
Fri, 09/12/2008 - 07:44 — tbone85I've lived in several other large school districts and WCPSS has overall done a very good job educating a large number of students. It's the reason they've received national accolades for their work with a large district. The bottom line is that our community has grown and will continue to grow.
Reviewing the experience of other large districts, it's clear that retreating to fractioned sub-communities is a solution that benefits only a tiny minority. What's more, it will drive fissures into our inter-related community. Those old solutions haven't worked for other large or growing communities, and there's no reason to believe it will work here.
We're better off than other communities our size, and pretending that Wake county is nothing more than a series of small unrelated communities is the equivalent of burying our heads in the sands. You want fewer year-round schools? Push the county to allocate more funds to build more schools and be prepared to come up with some out of your own pocket.
Reality check
Fri, 09/12/2008 - 15:44 — Voice_of_Reason_WCPSS is a school system in a medium size city with low population density. It is big because of our state legislature made it so. You cannot compare us with other big school districts because we are a comglomeration of what should be smaller ones. You can do the same thing in lots of places if you expand the district large enough, the problem then becomes a question of economic efficiency due to lower and lower population density. This is why busing is so inefficient here.
I do believe Cary did want
Fri, 09/12/2008 - 09:29 — rr77rr99I do believe Cary did want to build some of their own schools and WCPSS said , "No thanks" and then when they did say"Okay" they wanted total control over who to fill it.... so....
your comment about fewer year round schools and building more is unfounded! and because of MYR schooling... money IS coming out of my pocket... cutting back on job hours, paying for extra care because my older children on a different track can't watch the younger one.
"Communities our size" is a hoax
Fri, 09/12/2008 - 08:36 — Bob_SconceComparing Wake County to other large school districts is invalid -- look at the competition: Detroit, Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, etc.... For the most part, other "large" districts are decaying, dysfunctional, rust-belt cities. Wake County is a growing, mostly suburban, well-educated (at least among adults) county. Monkeys from the NC zoo could run WCPSS well enough to beat those other districts.
Second, I disagree with your definition of "Community" -- you imply that because WCPSS encompasses an entire county, that county must be the "Community." I disagree, as I would suspect, so do folks in Cary, Apex, Holly Springs, Wendell, Zebulon, Garner and Rolesville, most of whom identify more with their town than they do with the county.
As for the idea that breaking the district up would only benefit a "tiny minority," I fully disagree with you there. In fact, it would benefit the large majority by (1) making the local district more responsive to their needs, (2) stopping the practice of doling out education to haves (generally ITB, where most magnet schools are) and have-nots, (3) reducing multiple layers of bureaucracy, (4) significantly reducing the constant reassignments. Sure, the small minority of ITB folks who benefit from close proximity to magnet schools would be disadvantaged, but only by putting them on par with everybody else.
I have also lived in other districts, where the school board actually knew what was going on in the classroom, where the board at least knew the department heads in every school, if not the individual teachers, where neighborhoods took pride in their local schools. And, I prefer that set up.
So you're happy...
Fri, 09/12/2008 - 08:04 — Dadof3Bully for you. I wish I were but I'm not. I don't care about relativistic comparisons; I care about my kids in their schools in their districts.
Give more money to the revenue-craved junkie? I think not. There are many, what's the word? - disenfranchised, parents in Wake County. We will fight more money until we get this monster on the side of parents, not ribbon-awarding social engineers.
See you at the voting booth.
I too am a product of a
Fri, 09/12/2008 - 09:35 — rr77rr99I too am a product of a "community" school system within a "County". I attended 13 years of school with the majority of the same kids year after year. I found that to be comforting and gave me a sense of "place" and put a "value" and "pride" into my schooling and community.
I think it's important kids feel that "security" of knowing what school they will attend one , five, seven..whatever..years down the road. You can't tell a kindergartender in Apex they will go to Apex High. Heck, by the time they get to 9th grade, they could be going to high school in Zebulon. There are no gurantees with this system what's to become of them year after year. It's all about the "numbers game."
Even if the district was broken into "smaller districts" it would help. I fear this winter that it will ice and snow and because North Raleigh has iced over roads in Wake Forest, but it's all melted in Fuquay, the kids will still ALL be staying home from school and for MYR parents, they will be racking up those Saturday make up days (I know I know, they only go 1/2 day on Saturday, but the point is made here).
This district is out of control, WCPSS does not know what they are doing, they can't predict numbers (except for increasing administrative salaries every year.. those numbers they can calculate rather quickly).
I hope voters see this... No BOND! Stop feeding the fat pig.. and for goodness sakes STOP PUTTING LIPSTICK ON IT!
This is all crazy
Fri, 09/12/2008 - 06:05 — Dadof3<commence snarling ran>
The size of our school district is crazy.
The number of students and artificially merged desperate regions is crazy.
The distances, pick up and drop off times for students traversing the county is crazy.
The "equal performance results AT ALL COST" performance goals are crazy.
The FORCED (dammit -- cut with the "you made a choice" pap. Offering me a tricycle for my work commute is not a choice, its a pathetic charade.) year-round scheduling is hubristically crazy
That ITB rips off OTB in every way is crazy.
</end rant>
There's NO ONE that can project, plan, maintain and guide a heterogeneous community this size and scope. Whether the BoE(eR) gets 3 million or a dime misses the point.
Stop wasting Wake County citizen's time with this distopia edu-monstrosity. Let parents partner AS EQUALS with truly local school boards.
Let's fire Burns, Delaney, and all the other social engineering buffoons and send them back to the ivory towers of unreality academia where they can lick their wounds and devise even more grand schemes for the fools that enable their employment IN OTHER DISTRICTS.
That's change we can believe in.
You constantly hear about
Fri, 09/12/2008 - 06:40 — Tim (not verified)You constantly hear about other school districts in the country that are cutting back on busing to save on money, not in Wake County, the leaders know what is best. And that is to gouge our taxes and keep asking for more and then complain to the media when they don't get it. That's the problem, THEY DON'T GET IT!!! Maybe it's time to cut the BoE into quadrants or move entirely back to towns running their own systems. There has to be a better way and I agree that the forced Year Round is now biting them and they won't stand up and say, 'We're Sorry, we got it wrong'. Work with the families and you will be amazed at how much better things can be!
this is what I've been
Fri, 09/12/2008 - 05:21 — bigwinniethis is what I've been asking about! of course she does, Rosa, you just don't get it do you?