Mandate could lead to tax hike
By Steve Herring
Published in News on November 23, 2017 5:50 AM
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News-Argus/STEVE HERRING
Wayne County Commissioner John Bell, left, listens as Wayne County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Michael Dunsmore talks about the impact of a new state-mandated limit on classroom sizes.
A 5-cent property tax increase would be needed in order for Wayne County to cover the cost of new teachers and classrooms that would be required to meet the state's new classroom-size mandate for elementary schools.
On Tuesday, however, Wayne County commissioners were worried as well about other costs including the possible loss of art, music, foreign language and physical education classrooms and teachers.
Muddying the financial waters even more is the loss of low-wealth funding that will cost the county nearly $2 million annually.
Wayne Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Michael Dunsmore and Dr. David Lewis, assistant superintendent for accountability/information technology, Tuesday met with commissioners to talk about the mandate and possible ways to address it.
"Does the state, when it makes these mandates, do they ever consider it costs money, and we are going to provide you with resources?" Commissioner John Bell said.
Dunsmore said he did not want to speak for legislators.
"But going back to the teacher assistant, many of them thought they had funded the teacher assistant in the last budget bill," Dunsmore said. "But, if you read through that budget bill, it was a ratio that they funded and when you bring the math out, we lost positions.
"I think their intent is good. They are trying to help, but as most of you are aware when it comes to building classrooms space it is a minimum of about a two-year project from design to moving in."
Wayne County is in a much better position than a lot of other counties because of what it has done to build and renovate schools in recent years, Dunsmore said.
"But to answer the question I don't think they really looked at the unforeseen consequences of what their good intentions were," he said.
Commissioner Joe Daughtery, who is known for his opposition to tax increases, suggested that instead of a property tax increase that the county consider an additional quarter cent sales tax.
He also renewed his questioning of the need for pre-K classes since it is not a state-mandated program. He suggested that the programs be shifted out of county school to free up the classrooms now being devoted to that program.
Lewis said the county has 11 such classrooms in conjunction with Partnership for Children of Wayne County that use North Carolina pre-K funding. There is also some participation through WAGES and three are funded locally at School Street School, he said.
The county is being forced to make some hard choices, Daughtery said.
"If the legislature is making us examine all of that and, in the mix, I think we are going to have to look at that (pre-K)," he said. "If we are actually having to consider eliminate music teachers to have enough teachers, then I think we need to also take a look at pre-K whether or not those classes can be housed elsewhere to free up those classrooms for Wayne County."
Dunsmore said he did not want to see any programs go.
"I will say in defense of the pre-K program as well as the art, music and P.E., I don't want to see anything go," Dunsmore said. "We are seeing a lot of our students come into our schools, because of their home environments and oftentimes it is hard for parents to pay for pre-school services and those type of things," Dunsmore said.
Bell disagreed with Daughtery about the pre-K program.
"Pre-K, I just hope that we don't even consider cutting pre-K," Bell said. "That is a very important grade level. I would hate to see us get into an antiquated situation where we try compete with all of the other counties starting at first grade. I just don't think it would work."
Someone needs to tell legislators how important art is, Bell said.
Bell said he had seen a recent report that show that students who are actively involved in the arts test 25 to 30 points higher than normal students.
Daughtery also asked that the school system continue to look at shifting school district lines in order to maximize usage of existing classroom space.
West and Dunsmore said the system has studied classroom usage.
The school system has recommended adding eight classrooms at the new Meadow Lane Elementary School now under construction and building a new elementary school in the southeastern part of the county that is experiencing a growth spurt.
It would take two and a half years to buy the land, build a new school and sewer system at a cost of between $18 million and $20 million, County Manager George Wood said.
Also, the contract for the Meadow Lane project is 18 months, he said.
The state will provide up to $10 million in an additional lottery funding to schools in Tier 2 counties beginning in two years. Wayne County is a Tier 2 county.
The additional funding will require a dollar-for-dollar match from the county.
"However, the mandate takes effect in seven more months," Wood said. "So there is a mismatch between the timing of the mandate and the funding."
But the cost associated with construction is not the worst, he said.
"Even worse financially, we would have to employ an additional 50 teachers," he said. "The state's position is that they have already given us those teachers. The reality is that those positions are used to fund art, music, foreign language and similar positions. Unless we are willing to cut those out of the curriculum, we would need the 50 new teachers."
Wood estimates that adding 50 new teachers, the cost of a new school and its operating cost would be about $4.1 million during the first year.
"One cent on the tax rate brings in about $807,00," he said. "So, this scenario would add at least 5.053 cents to the tax rate."
The new legislation sets limits on the number of students per certified teacher, and according to the school system, the county will need to accommodate 500 students because of that, Wood said.
One possible way to reduce the number of new teachers and classrooms at the elementary school level would be to put 30 students in 10 classrooms with two certified teachers in each one, he said.
Another 20 students (the maximum allowed) would be put in 10 other classrooms each with one certified teacher.
Under that plan the county would need to hire 30 new teachers and build 20 new classrooms. The cost would be approximately $2.3 million and would add at least 2.825 cents to the tax rate, Wood said.
"Given this information, my recommendation is that you add eight classrooms to the Meadow Lane Elementary School that is under construction using $1.4 million of general fund balance to finance it," Wood said. "I further recommend that you hold off on building a new elementary school in the southeastern part of the county as they have proposed, or the alternate scenario of adding 20 classrooms and 30 teachers until the state funding of up to $10 million becomes available in about two years.
"Meanwhile, we should join with the other counties and school systems in the state that are pushing to have this mandate removed, amended significantly, or financed totally by the state. I recommend that you and the school administration lobby as soon as possible for these changes."
The county also needs to lobby the legislature to address the low-wealth funding issue that will cost the county $2 million annually beginning in fiscal year 2018-19 unless it is changed, Wood said.
The county is losing the funding because its tax rate is not high enough to meet the state low-wealth funding formula criteria.
Local legislators were able to get the $2 million for 2017-18 into the new state budget, but not for 2018-19, which means the county will have to absorb a $2 million shortfall beginning next year.
The local legislative delegation continues to work on a stop-gap fix, Wood said.
But the long-term fix is to change the wording in a state formula that exempts counties with military bases and a student population of at least 23,000 from the low-wealth formula, Wood said.
Currently that applies only to Cumberland County, home of Fort Bragg, and Onslow County, home of Camp Lejeune, Wood said.
Wood said the goal is to reduce the student population threshold to 17,000 students instead of 23,000 that Wayne County would be exempt from the low-wealth formula.