Merger Averted

My question to Terri and Mark G. is that the education spending for the town schools only increases by 6.5% whereas the total budget is increasing by more than 10%. Conversely the first crack at the county manager's budget funds education at 47% of the total general funds - a decrease from the "target" of 48.5% of the funding pie. Also, FYI the school district tax levy has decreased each of the last 3 years. So, it doesn't seem that education funding is responsible for the increased tax proposal as you might think.

I suggest that the rest of the budget seems to get very little scrutiny or discussion and probably should. For instance, why are residents of Orange getting less curbside recycling services than residents in Durham. FYI, our neighbor Durham County spends 60% of the general revenue on schools, much higher than Orange.

Mark G,

Innovation is the only thing that will keep us in the game, and education is necessary to enable our students be innovators.

It should be the target of education to educate each child to the fullest of his or her potential. Some need AP, others need remedial education, and still others are in the middle.

Terri,

The school system publishes a 20th day report in the fall. The percentage can likely be found there. Alternately, there is a budget page on each district's website.

M

How about those $40,000 sign-up bonuses to join the military? Could that money be better spent locally? How about $1 million per tomahawk missile? Any better uses for that money locally? When do the local fiscal conservatives begin to look at the flooding river of money flowing away at the federal military-industrial-corprate welfare level instead of trying to wring a few more bucks out of the crumbs that fall off the local table?

It's akin to domestic violence. When do the abused finally say enough is enough and stop enabling such behavior? I've never heard a so-called fiscal conservative answer the question by saying where that line is where any more money squandered on miltary adventures & corporate welfare is too much.

Well Mark M--I'm a fiscal conservative and I'll say it LOUD AND CLEAR! If the majority of our federal budget is spent on warfare, we're not going to think clearly or humanely about getting into war or how to get out since that might threaten the income security of top level officials and their cronies.

As for corporate welfare....please. Welfare, in this instance, is such just a liberal word for gifting, bribery, and waste. I will never understand how conservatives (the overall type) can support huge tax breaks and loopholes in the name of the free market. Unreasonable corporate profits, sunk into executive benefit packages, are doing more to unbalance a free market economy than any additional taxes will ever accomplish. Did I make myself a big enough target?

There have been some wonderful programming on NPR recently about income stratification (there's another mushy word). I really hope the Dems and the real liberals pick up on this as an issue in the next state and national elections.

Mark M,
Let me be the first. We spend way too much on the military. We're still in the cold war mentality, where we need ever more expensive missile systems, bombers, ships, ad nauseam. Our solidiers are stationed around the world, often for no good reason, defending people who often do no want them there. Many more bases could be closed. They are nothing but conduits for pork barrel funds. Yes, we need a strong defense, but it's obscene what we spend on our military, only to enable armchair warriors who can't resist the urge to compensate for whatever personal shortcomings they have.

Feel better? Yeah, I don't, either.

I saw an editorial cartoon a while back where the mom was telling her son, "Your school doesn't have any room for you, so they are sending you to where we are building new schools.... In Iraq."

June 12, 2005

I've stayed out of the school funding debates until now, but I want to express a growing concern. At any one time, about one-fourth of the households in Chapel Hill have kids in public schools. These are the people who benefit directly from the excellence of our schools, and who say to the commissioners "More and better, and I'm willing to pay for it". This is a special interest group, a large one and an important one, but a special interest group nonetheless. Every special interest group recites that its special interest is so important that everyone should be willing to accept a tax increase to pay for its special interest.

The bulk of the households in Chapel Hill don't have kids in school however. Perhaps they are like me, whose kids already went through the system, or they don't yet or may never have kids. This group receives only an indirect benefit from the school systems, namely that we all enjoy an educated, challenging community. This group is less concerned with the details of the schools, rather seeks a good school system that benefits us all. This group will not grant a blank check to the county commissioners, rather it feels that there should be a limit to spending on schools.

The commissioners have a tough, though correct job, to weigh the value of both school systems against other important county needs, some of which have been neglected recently and must be addressed. Examples here are the needs of the elderly, the law-enforcement and judicial systems, welfare for those in poverty, and public health, and parks and recreation. Moreover they must make these decisions with compassion toward modest people who are being driven out of town and county by increased property taxes. No school group can possibly fault the commissioners here; they have far surpassed every other county in NC in their support of schools.

I'm not a card-carrying fiscal conservative who says "Don't you dare spend a dime of my money". From my experience as a council member, I appreciate both the benefits and costs of local government services. I am, however, getting concerned about high cost of local school funding, and I speculate that people in the majority of households here are as well.

If you have lived in the same home for a decade or more, please plot your county property taxes versus time. For me, it has gone up fourfold since my then wife, kids and I moved into our home in 1986; the increase due mostly to school costs. I'm not an expert in school budgets, but I do gain insight from what the kids used to say at the dinner table. They raved about the teachers. "Mr. Kiger was awesome in history class" and "Mrs. Jones showed us this cool stuff in Biology". And if Freddy Kiger' or Judy Jones' salaries had increased fourfold during this period, I wouldn't complain, but their salaries didn't, so I do. Equally illuminating was what the kids didn't say. Never did I hear "Wow, we have an awesome west facade on the building" or "Geez, we have a great assistant superintendent for support services". Not enough funding goes directly to the teacher-student interaction, which I believe is the main, perhaps only, important point of schools. Has our school quality, gotten better since 1986? -- sure. Has it gotten four times better; that is, are today's graduates getting an education that is four times better than 1986 grads got? -- no way.

A list from the top 10 NC cities for graduation rates, percentage of 4 year degree holders in popluation, and funding per child.

funding
City Grad Rate % 4yr degree ($100s/child)
1 Chapel Hill 93.6 36.3 55
2 Matthews 92.5 33.2 51
3 Pinehurst 88.9 41.6 48
4 Raleigh 88.7 27.0 47
5 Carrboro 87.0 27.9 55
6 Cary 86.3 32.8 47
7 Jacksonville 85.3 13.6 41
8 Havelock 84.5 8.5 46
9 Southern Pines 82.6 19.7 48
10 Fayetteville 82.1 19.0 44

Is the %4 year degree referring to college? What data source did you use? How can Chapel Hill and Carrboro be separated?

Hi Joe,

The percentage of the county budget spent on education has been similar for quite some time. In the managers proposal for this year, it is down about 4% to 47% of the total county budget from what I recall that it was several years ago (based on public comments by commissioners). The county manager's info online does not have the percentage spent on education year to year, but given recent discussions that it has been half the budget for quite some time, it seems that other facets of the budget have grown at about the same rate. The district tax has also fluctuated from year to year and looks to be lower this year than it was in 1985 (17 cents this year, 17.6 in 1985).

Please substantiate your assertion that your tax is fourfold exclusively from school spending.

If you look at what the state has stopped contributing during the period that you mention then you will also see that there is $2 billion collected in taxes by the state that historically would have gone to the schools which the counties have had to pick up. This has to be factored in as part of the overall tax & revenue picture. Less of your state taxes is going to the schools.

Thanks,
Mark

The materials for tomorrow's (Feb 9th, 2006) discussion of merger at the BOCC are finally available. Draft agendas should be available at least 2 weeks in advance and the materials one week in advance or they should defer the item so that the public can be included in the decision making process. My observation is that agendas are typically available only 1-2 business days in advance and excludes 20%-40% of the meat (sometimes more).

http://www.co.orange.nc.us/OCCLERKS/0602099b.pdf