May 4, 2011

Top News

Board of Education Approves 2011-12 School System Budget

The Wake County Board of Education adopted the fiscal year 2011-12 budget for the school system at its meeting Tuesday.

The board action in its May 3 meeting followed discussions in work sessions and a public hearing. The board adopted the budget as recommended by Superintendent Tata last March.

The $1.25 billion recommended budget will:

• maintain all student teacher ratios at current levels;
• reduce class sizes in grades 4-5;
• increase support for five small, under-utilized, and/or declining enrollment elementary schools, including Aversboro, Baileywick, Hilburn Drive, Jefferys Grove and Root;
• create new instructional opportunities for Aversboro Elementary, Hilburn Drive Elementary, York Elementary, Carroll Middle and Knightdale High in the STEM Collaborative Network and for Timber Drive Elementary, Jeffreys Grove Elementary and Stough Elementary in the Global Schools Collaborative Network.
• ensure foreign language at all middle schools;
• maintain the 26 Pre-K classrooms that have been federally funded for the past two years; and
• expand alternative learning program seats to 2,106 from 1,346.

At its April 5 meeting, the board approved recommendations from state proposals that will eliminate one support position in every school and will reduce assistant principal months of employment. The budget plan also eliminates 46 positions in Wake County's Central Services operations.

The Wake County Public School System is expecting more than 3,300 additional students next year and will open two new schools for 2011-12. Walnut Creek Elementary School will open in Southeast Raleigh, and the Wake NC State University STEM Early College will open on the campus of NC State University.

In his news conference last Friday, Superintendent Tata noted the school board must approve its budget prior to the General Assembly finalizing the state budget, which accounts for more than half of the school system’s funding. If state or county funding differs from the funding picture on which the school budget was approved, the board will be required to reconcile its budget to the authorized funding from the county and state.

Board Approves One Time Bonus for School Based Teachers

Teachers will get a pay boost after the school board approved a recommendation from Superintendent Tata. The board approved a one-time $500 bonus for all school-based certified staff below the level of principal and assistant principal, who are employees of record on May 4, 2011. There will be a pro-rata bonus paid to qualifying staff that are not full-time. Payment of the proposed bonus will require an estimated $6.2 Million. Savings from the current year budget will be combined with the one-time revenue received In February 2011 from the Wake County Court System to fund the bonus.

Board Approves Changing Five Year-round Schools to Single Track

The Board of Education approved Tuesday changing five under-enrolled year-round schools to operate on a single-track for the next two years. The change should provide an operational savings of $400,000 for the school year.

The board acted on a recommendation from Superintendent Tata who asked for the change to allow principals to focus on student achievement, operational efficiencies and maximum use of resources.

The five schools are:

• Alston Ridge Elementary
• Highcroft Elementary
• Lake Myra Elementary
• Rand Road Elementary
• Timber Drive Elementary

The schools will operate on track four for the 2011-12 and 2012-13 school years.

The five schools have fewer projected students for next school year than the single-track capacity of the school.

The schools could serve more students on a multi-track, year-round calendar.

Tata recommended the change as part of a facilities utilization review and budget-building process, and after surveying staff and parents at 14 schools where the student enrollment is less than 100 percent of single-track capacity. 

Students will receive their official school assignments on May 13.  Families who wish to transfer their student to a different year-round school in an effort to remain on their current track may submit a transfer request between May 13 and June 1. Every effort will be made to help families find placement at another year-round school without transportation. Families who wish to transfer to a traditional calendar school may submit a transfer request between May 13 and June 1. Every effort will be made to place their student at the traditional calendar application school for their address with school district transportation provided.

The school system will take steps to help families and teachers who stay at the five schools. Schools will work closely with families to address sibling issues at feeder schools and provide transfer opportunities. The schools will make every effort to help families that have older siblings at feeder middle schools to have their elementary and middle school students assigned to track four. The schools will offer a July intersession to help families who had planned on children being in school. Families who had already planned vacations that now conflict with track four will have vacation absences excused. The school system will disperse teacher pay so that teachers will receive a July paycheck.

Nine other year-round schools were not recommended after the school system’s review. The schools were Ballentine Elementary, Banks Road Elementary, East Garner Elementary, Harris Creek Elementary, River Bend Elementary, Wakefield Elementary and West Lake Elementary, as well as East Cary Middle and Holly Grove Middle. Most of these had difficulty accommodating siblings on track four at feeder schools.

More News

Board Approves Revised Mission, Vision, and Core Beliefs Statements

The school board approved minor revisions to its mission, vision and core belief statements at its meeting Tuesday. Superintendent Tata discussed the revisions with the board in its April 26 work session. One of the changes was the re-write of a core belief that now reads:

Supportive and passionate parents, families, student mentors, and other members of the multi-cultural Wake County community are active participants in the education of our students.

Board Approves 2012-2013 Instructional Calendars

The school board approved the 2012-13 traditional, year-round, and modified instructional calendars at its meeting Tuesday. Each calendar contains 180 student days and meets all requirements of the calendar law.

The 2012-13 traditional calendar sets Monday, August 27 as the first day of class and Monday, June 10 as the last day of class. The board approved a teacher workday for November 6, election day. Winter break will be Dec.24 to Jan. 1. Thursday, March 28 will be a teacher workday. Friday, March 29 will be a holiday on Good Friday. Spring break will be April 1-5.

 The 2012-13 year-round calendar sets Monday, July 9 as the first day of class for tracks 1-3 and Thursday, July 30 as the first day of class for track 4. Friday, May 31 will be the last day of school for track 1. Friday, June 28 will be the last day of school for tracks 2, 3 and 4. Winter break will be Dec.21 to Jan. 1.

The 2012-13 modified calendar sets Monday, July 23 as the first day of class and Wednesday, May 29 as the last day of class. Winter break will be Dec.17 to Jan. 1. Spring break will be March 11-April 1.

You can view the calendars online here.

Board Approves Agreements for Wake County NC State University STEM Early College High School

The school board entered into agreements with NC State University and the NC New Schools Project at its meeting Tuesday. The board entered into a memorandum of understanding that defines the roles of the school system, NC State University and the NC New Schools Project for the new early college high school. The STEM Early College High School will provide its students with a high school degree and college credits from NC State University. The school opens August 8 with its first students, a group of 50 ninth-graders. Additional groups of 50 students will enter the program each year. The school’s principal is Rob Matheson.

Board Approves Schools of Choice for Title I Schools

The school board approved schools of choice for Title I schools that have not met Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) goals for two consecutive years. Under federal No Child Left Behind legislation, these Title I schools must offer parents the option to transfer their child to another school. The receiving school must not be in Title I School Improvement.