County to help fund school tech
By Steve Herring
Published in News on May 4, 2016 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/STEVE HERRING
Goldsboro Mayor Chuck Allen, standing, comments on the Wayne County Public Schools proposed five-year $9.8 million technology plan during Tuesday's joint meeting between the school board and Wayne County commissioners. Seated from left are Commissioner John Bell and commission Chairman Joe Daughtery.
An initial cash infusion of $750,000 in fiscal year 2016-17, followed by $150,000 annually for at least the next three years, will help Wayne County Public Schools jump start a proposed $9.8 million, five-year technology plan.
The plan was among topics discussed by Wayne County commissioners and the school board during a Tuesday afternoon work session at the school system's central office on Royall Avenue.
County Manager George Wood told the school board that he will include the $750,000 in the county's 2016-17 budget. The funding formula is the outgrowth of a series of behind-the-scenes meetings between county and school staff.
The $750,000 will include a one-time allocation of $600,000 and then $150,000 in new funding annually for up to four years.
Commission Chairman Joe Daughtery said commissioners are trying to set a precedent going forward that the school board does not have to ask commissioners for the money and instead will know what to expect.
Funding has been a contentious issue between the two boards in the past -- an issue commissioners are attempting to address in the next budget, Daughtery said.
"Now we have to pass the budget in order for it (increased funding) to go into effect," he said. "But we are actually going to be having a formula the county manager has recommended, and as the revenues increase in the county you all will share in that.
"So going forward there won't be this argument or contention. As those revenues increase, a portion of that is absolutely allocated to schools so the superintendent will know how to budget. He will know how to plan. The school board will."
Schools Assistant Superintendent Dr. David Lewis said the school system had come up with the draft technology plan and budget based on the amount of money that might be available.
But Goldsboro Mayor Chuck Allen challenged the school board to think in broader terms to meet the school's technology needs.
"At the end of the day our job as leaders is we are going to have to sell a plan to the community that is schools are the biggest economic thing that we have in the city and county, and we are going to have to do a better job of funding them," Allen said. "I think you should put the real picture out there whatever that number is. Then if the community doesn't want to fund it, then at least they have got the full picture.
"Somebody has got to understand one day that education is the biggest thing that we have got, and that we have underfunded it for years. What are we going to do? Are we just going to keep underfunding it? I think it is always good to have the total transparent -- this is what it takes. If you (public) are not willing to do this, then let's go back to this plan."
It is not so much the group that has been working on the plan as it is the citizens who need to know the needs, Allen said.
"When you sit here having the (Seymour Johnson Air Force) Base telling us, 'Look, you are not doing us right compared to other communities.' If we know that then as leaders we ought to at least be communicating the true story of what is going on. I think you are selling yourself short for what you really need."
Wood agreed with Allen that the problem has been the lack of a consistent source of money for technology.
"So we are basically starting from scratch," he said. "What we tried to do, (Superintendent Dr.) Mike (Dunsmore), and I started working on this several months ago. We tried to get a Golden LEAF grant for three-quarters of a million dollars. I think you all know that.
"We were not successful. The idea there was to jump start this thing because we know we have got some issues there. So what we have been trying to do is figure out how we can still jump start it despite the fact that we didn't get the grant."
The $600,000 offsets that failed attempt, he said.
The funding formula is not set in stone, Wood said. But what the county is trying to do is make a "realistic assessment" each year of what the revenue growth is for the general fund.
That increase is minus any earmarked money the county receives for DSS, public heath or other services, Wood said.
"So we have to subtract that out," Wood said. "So what we are really trying to get to is, of local revenue sources, what is the growth rate? You look at what we can realistically afford to give the schools because remember we fund you, but we also fund about 20 other departments."
Having said that, the tentative formula now being looked at would generate about $387,000 in the coming year, Wood said.
"Now what the superintendent and I have talked about is trying to earmark, because that is new money over and above what you have gotten in prior years," Wood said. "We would earmark $150,000 of that for technology. That way that money cannot be diverted for anything else. It has to be used for technology."
Also, if only $120,000 is spent, the remaining $30,000 would be carried forward, Wood said.
"In the second year let's assume you get a similar amount of growth, and let's say it is $387,000," Wood said. "We would earmark another $150,000. In the following years you would keep the balance of that ($387,000) for your operating expenses, which is matching these salary increases the governor is talking about. So we have to give you some additional operating money every year.
"We were trying to come up with a realistic number we could put in, earmark and build up a technology fund."
The total in new money over the next four years has been arbitrarily capped at $600,000 because it was felt that would meet the needs, Wood said.
"If it doesn't, we can continue to have an agreement that in the fifth year you earmark another $150,000 that gets it to $750,000," Wood said. "Six years would get it to $900,000. What that is going to do is decrease the amount of money you have for operating expenses of that growth. Now, I can't guarantee you will get $387,000 in growth every year.
"But whatever it is, whatever we agree to when we sit down and meet with the superintendent and chairman every year and go through and give them an estimation of what we can do -- that is how we will build this fund up and that is the only way that I know to be sure going forward we are going to fund technology like it needs to be funded."