BOE & legislators

I'm at the Board of Education meeting with our state legislators. I'll post some highlights here as the meeting progresses. 

7:58 a.m.: Anne Medenblik said to Sen. Ellie Kinnaird and Rep. Verla Insko legislators faced a tough budget year, but didn't "balance the budget on the backs of our students."

8:10 a.m.: Rep. Bill Faison will not be attending because of an emergency conflict.

8:15 a.m.: Dr. McFarley and Dr. Morton talking about the budget's impact on the district. Rep. Insko and Sen. Kinnaird asking questions and seeking clarification. Rep. Insko said the state legislator should push for connectivity in rural areas so the Internet could be used for additional learning and to fill the gap left by a longer textbook adoption cycle.

8:25 a.m.: Sen. Kinnaird: Orange County taxes are already way too high. ... My answer to that is we've got to get out there and get more commercial. We've got to change our balance.

8:38 a.m.: Board chair Anne Medenblik said there was an unfunded mandate to background check volunteers.

Sen. Kinnaird said she thought the background checks are an "overreaction."

"You're denying those parents to help in their parents kid," she said.

Mike Gilbert, OCS public information officer, said there have been 2,100 volunteers approved.

Morton said there have been several "questionable instances" involving parents and students.

Gilbert said there are 25 sex offenders within 3 miles of the district Central Office on King Street.

9 a.m.: Dr. McFarley explained that, though the district has been awarded a construction bond for building an auditorium at C.W. Stanford Middle School, no one will buy it. In North Carolina, only one such bond has been purchased, he said.

"Part of the problem for most of the school districts in the state is that he allocation for the Qualified Zoning Construction Bond is not a huge amount," he said. "So the tax benefit that a bank or individual would get for buying this bond is not attractive."