Ballantyne Scoop » Schools

Community Meetings Set for CMS Superintendent Search

Caroline Adams — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 14:41:56 +0000

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Nov. 16, 2011 –Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools will begin the second phase of its superintendent search process with a series of community meetings. The district will hold six meetings Dec. 5 – 8 and community members will have an opportunity to discuss criteria for the new leader through structured, small-group discussions.

The public engagement phase began in October with the launch of www.nextsuperintendent.com and an online survey that was available in English and Spanish. Nearly 9,300 community members completed the survey which asked questions about the importance of leadership traits, skills and abilities for the next superintendent. In addition, approximately 500 students provided input through an online high school version of the survey.

“More than 9,000 people participated in the survey, but we want to hear from more community members,” said Board Chair Eric C. Davis. “The community’s input is critical in this process as we search for the next superintendent of CMS.”

At the conclusion of the community engagement phase, the Board of Education will receive a report of the results in December.

The community meeting schedule is below. All meeting times are 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Dec. 5: Johnson C. Smith University (Biddle Hall)
Butler High (1810 Matthews-Mint Hill Rd.)

Dec. 6: Myers Park High (2400 Colony Rd.)
Albemarle Road Middle (6900 Democracy Dr.)

Dec. 8: Vance High (7600 IBM Dr.)
North Mecklenburg High (11201 Old Statesville Rd.)

For more information, visit www.nextsuperintendent.com.

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Senator Bob Rucho’s NC General Assembly Update

Caroline Adams — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 17:39:47 +0000

We have surpassed 40 legislative days at the North Carolina General Assembly. Though we have worked at a dizzying pace, we remain focused on getting more money into your pockets by right-sizing the government and getting it out of the way of the job creating private sector.

I am excited to tell you about the legislation that has recently emerged at the General Assembly, because I feel that it ultimately affects and benefits you, the hard working people of North Carolina.

Senate Bill 22 is an important bill that was passed and signed by the governor last week. It forbids any new rules and regulations to be placed on the private sector, until a joint committee of House and Senate members reviews the rules, which are already in place, and determines which ones are burdensome and ineffective. The committee is touring the state and hearing suggestions about the regulations from citizens, business owners and environmentalists. More than 15,000 rules have been put on the books over the past decade. For years, these burdensome regulations on businesses have created uncertainty in the private sector, which has stifled job growth and economic recovery. Our private- sector companies deserve the freedom to profit and create jobs. With this law enacted, our North Carolina businesses now have the ability to exercise this freedom, one that has been strangled for so many years. For more information, here is the link for Senate Bill 22: http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2011/Bills/Senate/PDF/S22v6.pdf.

The next piece of legislation that was passed in both the House and the Senate, and that has just reached the governor’s desk is Senate Bill 265. It is an effort to reform the State Health Plan. The bill moves the plan from politicians and puts it under the state treasurer’s authority. It requires state employees to pay a modest premium– about $21 for the best plan, and half that for basic coverage. That is about 5 percent of the total cost, and retirees, as promised, are still offered a no-premium option for the basic plan. To maintain access to affordable medicine, we kept $10 copays on generic prescriptions. The State Health Plan is teetering on the verge of financial collapse and in order to save the plan and keep our promises to retirees, we had to make sweeping changes. This bill represents our goal to keep the plan afloat, but also keep costs as low as possible for the thousands of North Carolinians who have devoted their lives to public service. We feel that this bill strikes that balance. So much so, in fact, that the State Employees Association of North Carolina have endorsed the major components of the bill. Senate Bill 265 should allow the State Health Plan to become financially stable. Taken from the NCGA website, here is the link for Senate Bill 265: http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2011/Bills/Senate/PDF/S265v6.pdf.

House Bill 546 was filed last week. Most of you may have already heard about this bill. It authorizes the Charlotte- Mecklenburg schools to develop and implement alternative salary plans for instructional personnel and school administrators. It would allow the CMS superintendent, Peter Gorman, to implement a pay for performance program in which teachers would be rewarded on numerous different measures of effectiveness. The bill is still in House committee. More updates about this bill will be given as the information emerges. Here is a link for House Bill 546: http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2011/Bills/House/PDF/H546v1.pdf.

As for the hot topic of redistricting, a public hearing has been scheduled for Mecklenburg County for Saturday, April 30, at 9:30 am at Central Piedmont Community College. For more information concerning the redistricting process and public hearings, please see the website: http://www.ncleg.net/gis/randr07/redistricting.html.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding these issues or others, please feel free to contact Senator Rucho at:
Senator Bob Rucho
Senate
300-A Legislative Office Building
300 N. Salisbury Street
Raleigh, North Carolina 27603-5925
(919) 733-5655
bobr@ncleg.net

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Have Your Say With CMS, 2012-2013 School Calendar Poll Opens March 17

Caroline Adams — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 21:23:32 +0000

CHARLOTTE, N.C., March 16, 2011 – Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools will begin polling parents, students and community members tomorrow, March 17, for input on the 2012-2013 CMS school calendar. Two calendar options and the poll will go live after 9 a.m. on March 17. A link to the poll, which includes both versions of the 2012-2013 calendar (Calendar A and Calendar B), will be located on the CMS home page under Calendar Poll. The poll will end at 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, March 24.

A committee of CMS teachers, principals, administrators, parents and community members designed two 2012-2013 school calendars with various options for teacher workdays, annual leave days and holidays throughout the 215-day school year. Both calendars meet the requirements of North Carolina law, North Carolina Board of Education and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education policies. Among those requirements:
The calendar must cover 215 total days, divided among instructional school days, teacher workdays, annual leave days and holidays.

There must be 180 instructional school days, starting no earlier than Aug. 25 and ending no later than June 10.
The calendar must include 15 teacher workdays, including one scheduled before school starts and one scheduled at the end of each academic quarter.

There are 10 holidays, one of which must be Veterans Day.
There must be 10 annual leave days.
The calendar committee must also schedule an equal number of days for the first and second semesters so that high school courses have 135 instructional hours.

The major differences between the two calendars include days in which teacher workdays are offered, the length of winter break and the week of spring break. Both calendars have eight severe weather make-up days.

After the polling period concludes, CMS Superintendent Dr. Peter Gorman will review the results, evaluate comments submitted by staff, parents and community residents, and could make changes to either calendar. He will recommend one calendar to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education. The Board is scheduled to vote on the 2012-2013 calendar at its April 12 meeting.

Calendar A

Calendar B

Calendar Comparisons

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CMS Budget Updates

Caroline Adams — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 05:01:17 +0000

Ballantyne, NC – Is there pressure on the schools to teach the children? Is C.M.S just throwing money at the school problems? The C.M.S. Board of Education draws the lines for which students attend which specific schools. District 6 C.M.S. Representative Tim Morgan reminded all that the magnet schools were created to alleviate issues with children attending their ‘home’ schools.

Will the Charter School cap be lifted? Scott Babbidge is concerned that schools do not use detention as a method to control behavior. The K.I.P.P. Academy requires parents and students sign a contract in order to become a student. The county board of commissioners does not have authority to control the schools. The authority resides with the C.M.S. Board of Education. Scott Babbidge and Scott Mickel are both members of the Charlotte Chamber Legislative Agenda Task Force. Both asked if the C.M.S. Board of Education had adopted a legislative agenda at this time. District 6 C.M.S. Representative Morgan explained that the C.M.S. Board has not yet adopted a legislative agenda. The C.M.S. Board does anticipate soon adopting this agenda.

Morgan also stated that the school board is ‘pushing’ for ‘greater flexibility’ from the North Carolina General Assembly. The state requires that the school year is 180 days between August 25th and June 10th. Currently the exams fall after Christmas. Many would like to see the exams happen before Christmas. ‘Greater flexibility’ from the general assembly would allow this exam time change to happen. It would also allow many other necessary changes to be decided by local board members.

At the January 25th meeting, several key decisions must be finalized by the board of education. The first is a bell-schedule/transportation change. These changes are linked. Currently, all elementary schools meet for six hours and 15 minutes per day. Local high schools meet for seven hours per day. This change would put most elementary schools at a seven hour school day. If the elementary bell change is finalized, this allows for greater bus efficiency. Each bus can be used for four or possibly five schools. These changes will equal a savings of $4 million dollars. The state originally mandated this bell schedule in order to give time for the teachers to plan at the end of each day. C.M.S will work at the ‘school-house level’ to ensure that teachers have time to plan. C.M.S does not anticipate teachers working longer days due to this change.

Another item to be finalized at the January 25th meeting is the change to ‘Bright Beginnings’. This would be a $10 million dollars savings. The number of ‘Bright Beginning’ Classes would go from 175 to 70 if this change is implemented. The third important vote for the January 25th meeting is ‘weighted student staffing’. The ‘weighted student staffing’ is scheduled to go from 1.3 to 1.25 with this proposed change. This change would save $10 million dollars. These decisions will be made final in the January 25th board meeting.

The current deadline is a ‘self-imposed’ board deadline. The school board would like to give time for parents to know about the elementary school bell-schedule/transportation change. They would also like for teachers to also know about this same bell-schedule/transportation change. Each school needs to know how many teachers they will be loosing. The school board would like to provide information to the community about ‘Bright Beginnings’. This is done so local service providers will have time to ‘step up’ and help with the children who were in ‘Bright Beginnings’.

Also at the January 25th board meeting, the magnet school transportation change will be considered. Some board members would like to remove all C.M.S. School Transportation for magnet schools to save money. Currently the board does not know the exact shortfall of this budget. 85% of the school funding comes from the county and the state. The school board does not know the exact amount that it will receive from either the county or the state. The board is facing an approximate shortfall of $100 million for the new budget.

The April 26th meeting is the public budget meeting. The final vote on this budget will happen at the May 10th C.M.S. Board Meeting. The next board meeting is Tuesday, January 25th at 6:00 pm in the government center. All are encouraged to attend.

Susan J. Spaulding
Public Policy Writer

http://ballantynescoop.com

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CMS: FIRST LOOK AT NEW DEEPER CUTS: 01 11 11

Caroline Adams — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 19:33:43 +0000

Due to the unusual ice and snow, the C.M.S. Board Meeting was held at an earlier time of day. On January 11th, the 2:00 pm meeting was full of the new proposed deep cuts. There were twenty public speakers present. Several spoke about saving The Collinswood Elementary Magnet Program. Even more spoke of saving ‘Bright Beginnings’. ‘Bright Beginnings’ is a Pre-K program for those who do not have an economic advantage. The biggest surprise is the choice in cuts made by Dr. Gorman and his staff. Dr. Gorman is recommending some shocking cuts for C.M.S.

Following a staff presentation on A.E., A.D.A. and per pupil spending, it was time for board members to comment. District 1 C.M.S. Representative Rhonda Lennon is concerned about the over all per pupil spending. She reminded all that District 1 and District 6 (Ballantyne) have the lowest per pupil expenditures but have some of the highest numbers of students per school. This greatly concerns Ms. Lennon. She stated that these schools are underfunded. District 2 C.M.S. Representative Richard McElrath asked if the school system can track spending by local P.T.A.’s. He asked if the P.T.A’s in District 1 and District 6 spend more money in the classroom. District 6 C.M.S. Representative Tim Morgan explained that he had recently received a report from Ardrey Kell High School on P.T.A. spending. At Ardrey Kell, the classroom per pupil spending by the local P.T.A. is approximately $4.25 per student. Mr. Morgan stated that the idea that there is a tremendous amount of money to ‘make up’ for lack of C.M.S. spending is not reality. There are NOT significant dollars going into the classroom to ‘help replace what ‘we’ (C.M.S) are not spending’. District 6 Representative Tim Morgan further stated he has done research on exactly what the local P.T.A’s can fund. They can only help fund assistants in the classroom. The local P.T.A.’s can not fund more teachers. Currently the $4.25 per student does NOT make up for any funding gap. This ‘falsehood’ that is out there, it’s just not true, that these P.T.A.’s are raising enough money to fill that ‘gap’ of what ‘we‘ (C.M.S.) are not spending.

Dr. Gorman went on to explain that he has recently spoken to Mr. Battle about this funding gap. Dr. Gorman stated that it would take an EXTRA $1 million dollars at a 1,000 pupil school to make up for $1,000 gap for each child at these schools. Dr. Gorman stated that experiences are not equalized. Dr. Gorman’s daughter had a pretty educational day ‘yesterday’ at home from school due to snow. She (Dr. Gorman’s daughter) did not experience a huge amount of learning loss (at home). Dr. Gorman is just not sure ‘that happened’ for every child depending on the ability of parents due to resources, access and other things. There could have been a 7th grader left home alone who didn’t get those resources. Or a 7th grader who spent the day with a parent in an ‘educational’ day. It’s more experiential than dollars in some cases. Dr. Gorman’s point is that ‘we’ have to look at the whole picture.

Dr. Gorman and the C.M.S. Staff are recommending over $21 million dollars in cuts in ‘central support and operations’. He is recommending a total of over $8 million dollars in cuts for ‘academic services’. This includes an $2 million dollar cut to ‘Bright Beginnings’. The number of ‘Bright Beginnings’ classrooms will go from 175 to 70. The total ‘schools division‘ cuts are over $61 million dollars. One of the schools being closed is Midwood High School. Also included are an increase in class size by two students per class in some schools. The formula for weighted staffing also will change. This formula will go from 1.3 to 1.25 in all grade level. Dr. Gorman is recommending changes to bell schedules as well. Some schools will have no change, fifteen minutes, thirty minutes, sixty minutes and ninety minute changes depending on the school. Dr. Gorman is NOT recommending cutting magnet school transportation or the 1.5 ‘walk zone’ at this time.

Susan J. Spaulding
Public Policy Writer

http://ballantynescoop.com

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CMS Operating On Normal Schedule January 14

Caroline Adams — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 18:07:41 +0000

CMS operating on normal schedule Jan. 14

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools will operate on a normal schedule Friday, Jan. 14. Friday will also be the first day of EOC exams. All school, athletic, after school enrichment programs and all community use of schools events will run as scheduled.

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CMS Board Meeting Updates – Are Bell and Bus Schedule Changes on the Horizon?

Caroline Adams — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 00:47:30 +0000

This reporter was anxious to attend my first meeting in the chamber of the government center. I am happy to report that it was a very informative and thought provoking process. I did learn much about how this board makes decisions.

The Charlotte Mecklenburg School Board of Education met on December 14th, 2010 in the chamber of The Charlotte Government Center at 6:00 pm. The meeting opened with the pledge of allegiance and the amended agenda. Per the board rules, Dr. Gorman was presiding over the vote for the board chairperson. C.M.S.District 5 Representative Eric Davis was nominated by At-Large Representative ‘Coach’ Joe White. At-Large Member Trent Merchant was also nominated for the position of chairperson.
However, At-Large Member Trent Merchant declined this nomination. The votes went to the incumbent Chairman Eric Davis. Chairman Davis was presiding over the vote for vice-chairperson. District 4 Representative Tom Tate, At-Large Representative Kaye McGarry and District 6 Representative Tim Morgan were all nominated in that order. District 4 Representative Tom Tate won this vote.

Next were the public speakers. One speaker is an advocate for ‘Classroom Central’. This is a ‘free store’ for teachers in Charlotte that is no longer funded by C.M.S. ‘Classroom Central’ has been in operation for nine years. They serve 122 schools and 7,770 students. One of the major sponsors of this project is The Goodrich Corporation. The speaker for ‘Classroom Central’ would like to have this project reinstated in the C.M.S. Budget. Several speakers would like to get E.E. Waddell on the list of open schools instead of the list of schools to close. Several parents who have children in magnet schools also spoke about the cuts to magnet transportation.

Guy Chamberlin, C.M.S. Associate Superintendent for Auxiliary Services, also briefly spoke to the board about minority participation in the electrical retrofit project. This project will help make more schools more energy efficient. C.M.S has more than the minimum amount of minority participation for this and other projects.

At-Large Representative Kaye McGarry made her case for mandatory audio-taping of every closed door board meeting. She cited the open meting laws as one reason to record the closed meetings. On September 28th of this year, the C.M.S. Board stopped recording their closed door meetings. At that same meeting, one board member was insistent on personally recording the meeting. Several board members cited that fact that Nancy Daughtridge takes detailed notes of these meetings as a reason not to record. The board did vote to not have audio-recordings of their closed door meetings. This measure failed by a vote of 2 to 7.

Carol Stamper, C.M.S. Executive Director of Transportation Director and Derek Graham both spoke about ways to save money through transportation changes. Mr. Graham is the Section Chief of Transportation Services for The North Carolina Department of Transportation. Ms. Stamper outlined several different ways money can be saved. Buses are the safest and most environmentally sound way to transport children to and from schools. Children are 45 times more likely to remain safe on a bus versus riding with a teen driver. The current number of C.M.S school buses transport 56,000 children. This keeps many vehicles off the road and increases safety for all in Charlotte. In one year, the C.M.S. Transportation Department uses 7 million gallons of fuel that costs $20 million dollars.

Mr. Graham then explained the funding formula used by the state for the amount given to each county for school transportation. There are three elements to this formula: 1.The funding base 2. The budget rating 3. Budget rating X (multiplied by) base funding. Local funding for school transportation is capped by the general assembly of the state. Mr. Graham stated that efficiency is key. Ms. Stamper stated that option #1 to save money would be not transporting any students who live less than 1.5 miles from their school. This would equal a major re-arranging of the C.M.S. Transportation Zones. The initial savings for year one of this idea is $5 – $6 million. Unfortunately, in year two, this would also mean a 15% drop in the money received from the state. The state has a ‘simulator’ that is not as helpful as it sounds. This ‘simulator’ is one year old data.

Along with a complicated and outdated formula the state has ‘frontier counties’ that are doing well, in the state’s estimations. There are 100 counties in North Carolina, only two or three are ‘frontier counties’. The current state transportation formula is from 1990. C.M.S. At-Large Representative Trent Merchant and District 1 Representative Rhonda Lennon both commented that this formula is outdated and not as efficient as it could be. District 1 Representative Rhonda Lennon suggested that all of the board should be contacting the state representatives about this formula. Ms. Lennon would like to speak to Representative Thom Tillis and the need for more flexibility in funding. Chairman Eric Davis is also anxious to speak to Representative Thom Tillis about the formula. He would like to suggest an ‘urban’ funding formula.

Ms. Stamper went on to present the idea of cutting funding for magnet school transportation. The cost savings would depend on which track the board chooses. The first option that board can choose is to stop transportation for only full magnet schools. The second option is to choose to stop transportation for full and partial magnet schools. The option for only full magnet schools would save $6.7 million dollars. The second option would save $6.7 plus another $2.8 million. This would be approximately $9.5 million dollars in total savings if the board chooses the full and partial magnet school transportation option. However, this $9.5 million might not be fully realized due to logistics. If some students opt out of going to a magnet school and choose to now go to their ‘home’ school there are costs associated with that choice. This might cause the savings to be approximately $5.1 million even with the choice of full and partial magnets. In other words, it might cost the schools $4.4 million to transport these former magnet students to their ‘home’ schools.

A change in bell schedules in order to use each bus more often during a school day was another option put on the ‘table’. January 8th, 2011 there will be a ‘magnet fair’. The deadline for the magnet school applications is February 7th. Final decisions will need to be made before this February 7th deadline. The January 25th board meeting will be this date when major transportation decisions will need to be final.

District 3 Representative Dr. Joyce Waddell asked Ms. Stamper a question about bus driver duties. Can the bus drivers take on other responsibilities, like teacher’s assistant or work in the cafeteria? Ms. Stamper explained that this idea is no longer feasible. Most of the bus drivers are full time and work at least 7.5 hours per school day. Currently some buses drive students to four schools every morning and evening. District 6 Representative Tim Morgan reminded all that a school in his area, Hawk Ridge Elementary, there are buses driving to four and some to five schools each school day. This idea would expand this concept to more schools in C.M.S. Ms. Stamper went on to say that as many as 51,000 students might not have buses as a option in the future. District 6 Representative Tim Morgan asked if all of the schools are equipped for ‘stacking’. Dr. Gorman explained that some of the older schools are not as equipped for vehicles to to be ‘stacked’ in order for parents to drive their children to school. Dr. Gorman further explained that most of the newer schools are very will equipped for vehicle ‘stacking’ that might occur if fewer buses are used in the future.

District 6 Representative Tim Morgan asked about children being left on school buses. Mr. Morgan personally spoke to several parents who were not too happy with C.M.S after their child had been left on a bus. The C.M.S. Transportation Department has a new, required driver training program in place for safety. This new training program is designed to prevent just such an occurrence of children being left on school buses. Ms. Stamper went on to explain that this new training program is called the ‘check-mate’ system. When a school bus is turned off the driver has a short time to walk to the back of the bus to push a button or a warning will sound. If the driver does not push this button at the back of the bus, then the horn will automatically start honking. All of the drivers for C.M.S have been through this ‘check-mate’ training.

Dr. Gorman explained that C.M.S now has a new option of a two-hour weather related delay. For some parents this presents a problem of who will care for children during this two-hour window. This also can be a challenge with giving all children breakfast and lunch in time.

Ms. Stamper explained the new T.I.M.S system. This is when bus drivers give written notice of exactly which children are riding their bus. It is important to know which children are choosing to ride the bus every day and which are not riding the bus at all. Ms. Stamper is also anxious to go to some of the schools where bus ridership is a low number. She would like to promote bus ridership at these schools.

Derek Graham explained that magnet schools actually increase the need for more state funding. These magnet schools are usually further from where the students live and cost are more per magnet school student. This helps to ‘level’ the playing field in the state’s estimations. Homeless students also cost more per student. There are many ideas of how to save money. Final decisions by the C.M.S. Board have not been made yet.

(NOTE: Please look for Part 2 of this board meeting soon! )

Susan J. Spaulding
Public Policy Writer

http://ballantynescoop.com

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CMS Ranks Third Nationally With Newly Certified Teachers

Caroline Adams — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 01:16:48 +0000

288 CMS teachers received 2010 National Board Certification

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Dec. 16, 2010 – The National Board for Professional Teacher Standards (NBPTS) has announced that 288 CMS teachers have earned National Board Certification this year—the largest number of new certifications in the district’s history.

According to NBPTS, North Carolina has 2,277 newly-certified National Board teachers in public school classrooms. They bring the state’s total number of National Board Certified Teachers to 17,957, accounting for almost one-fifth of the nation’s National Board-certified teachers. CMS ranks third nationally with 1,739 certified teachers.
Teachers achieve certification through a rigorous performance-based assessment that typically takes from one to three years to complete and measures what accomplished teachers and counselors should know and be able to do. Participation is voluntary. Candidates build a portfolio that includes student work samples, assignments, videotapes and a thorough analysis of classroom teaching. Certification is currently available to educators in 27 fields. A list of CMS teachers earning their 2010 National Board certification is attached. For more information on National Board Certification, go to www.nbpts.org.

###
For more Information, please contact:
Kasia Thompson
980-343-1140 Phone
980-343-3647 Fax

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CMS Correction Story

Caroline Adams — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 01:10:31 +0000

(This is a correction article. The original article was from the breakfast meeting of 12-03-10)

Ballantyne, NC – Representative Ruth Samuelson, C.M.S. Board Member Tom Tate and County Board of Commissioners Member George Dunlap are unfamiliar with Ballantyne. They somehow missed the facts of the growth in Ballantyne. Representative Ric Killian is concerned that these individuals are not familiar with the facts of Ballantyne. Ballantyne’s schools are also overcrowded. Ballantyne is a very densely populated area in Charlotte.

Budget constraints in the millions are also causing big changes at C.M.S. District 6 C.M.S. Board Member Tim Morgan is concerned about several school buildings soon to be closed. He is would like to see others in the community use these buildings wisely. He would have preferred that the board consider moving the education center to Smith. Sadly, the education center is in the process of being moved to eight new locations.

C.M.S. District 6 Representative Tim Morgan would have preferred to save more money by placing the montessori schools at Oakhurst. This could save $1 million dollars per year. Oakhurst is ideal because it has such large classrooms and great outdoor spaces. C.M.S. Area Superintendent Joel Ritchie’s contract has not been removed. The C.M.S. Board of Education is working to ‘shrink’ the size of the staff members to save money. Some in the room would like to see C.M.S consider cutting teacher supplemental pay as a cost cutting measure.

The new K-8 schools are a great idea. Often the teachers and staff at a K-5 school envision a ‘little area’ of goals for students. At the K-8 schools, the big picture is more clear for the teachers and staff. Better goals will equal better students. C.M.S. Board Member Tim Morgan has been working to find ways to save money and keep more teachers in the classroom. Unfortunately, P.T.A.’s can not raise money to keep more teachers in the classroom. The National Charter for the P.T.A.’s will not allow this move. However, the money raised by P.T.A’s can be used for funding non-certified schoolhouse positions, such as teacher’s assistants. The board of education is anxiously awaiting a report on West Charlotte by a foundation that has a study group. Several private education groups have pooled their resources. The group represents twelve schools in West Charlotte. Hopefully other P.T.A’s can copy what this study group recommends.

In January 2011, the board will begin discussing the start times of schools as part of our budget discussions and ways to save transportation dollars. This budget discussion is for the 2011-2012 school budget. The board will have more discussions on the budget in their next regular meeting. The next regular meeting for the school board is Tuesday, December 14th at 6:00 pm in the chamber at the government center.

Susan J. Spaulding
Public Policy Writer

http://ballantynescoop.com

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What Now For CMS?

Caroline Adams — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 14:22:48 +0000

What will be cut in this new budget cycle? C.M.S. District 6 School Board Member Tim Morgan was happy to answer questions about this budget. Friday, November 19th, the C.M.S. Board of Education had their first meeting about the budget for 2011-2012. The board has been told to brace for millions in cuts for this new budget. The cuts from the State of North Carolina could be 5%, 10% or 15%. These percentages represent a percent less than the state gave to the schools last year. Governor Perdue has said this board should prepare for as much as $170 million in cuts. The range given to the school board was $70 million – $170 million. The state might give between $31 million – $94 million to the budget for C.M.S. The school board also does not know how much they will be getting from the county government. C.M.S. does anticipate a $15 million – $30 million loss of stimulus funds. The last budget cycle started in January of 2010. This year, the budget cycle has started in November. The staff and the board of education pushed for this early budget cycle due to the deep cuts anticipated. These cuts could total as much as 10% of the budget. Right now, the board is anticipating various ways to cut spending. Currently, there are many unknowns in this budget cycle.

C.M.S. Board Member Tim Morgan explained that in the Friday meeting, the board looked at two general items that might be cut. First was transportation and second was staffing. Transportation cuts could save $4 million – $10 million. C.M.S. Board Member Tim Morgan went on to explain ‘Weighted Staffing’. This type of staffing is implemented locally in high poverty schools to ensure smaller classes and give children more attention. This type of staffing changes the teacher to student ratio. One ‘regular’ student is allotted ‘one’ teacher per student. In contrast, students in ‘weighted staffing’ get 1.3 teachers per student. Obviously, this staffing costs the school system more money. C.M.S. currently spends $48 million on ‘weighted staffing’ per year. This board has told the staff to begin preparing a ‘tiered’ approach to this new budget that is similar to the ‘tiered’ approach taken last budget cycle. For example, the budget should be broken down in percentages or dollars cut or saved. If 5% is cut, here are the specific items that must be cut in order to make this happen. If 10% is cut, here are the specific items that must be cut to make the 10% cut happen, etc. Last year, the staff had several ‘scenarios’ in the final budget recommendation to the board. In this budget cycle, no new priorities have been set. These priorities will be set by the board later. C.M.S does not have a schedule of when the final vote on the budget will happen. The community workshops, where the public are allowed to speak, might start in early 2011. What else can be cut that has not already been cut? The next meeting will be the school board workshop on December 14th. The public is not allowed to speak but can attend this meeting. This December 14th meeting will be at 4:30 pm in room Ch-14 of the government center.

Susan J. Spaulding
Public Policy Writer

http://ballantynescoop.com

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