Speaking Out On the Proposed WCPSS Budget

On TUESDAY, MARCH 20, citizens will have an opportunity to voice their opinions about the proposed WCPSS budget (see N&O link on Wed., March 7 posting). The public may speak beginning at 3:00 at the School Board meeting on Old Wake Forest Road. There is a 3-minute time limit. Find out more here:

http://rdu.news14.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=102019

WakeCARES Lawsuit Filed Today

To view the legal complaint against the Wake County School Board filed today by WakeCARES, click below.

http://www.wakecares.com/complaint.pdf

Conversion Costs

This News and Observer article is about the WCPSS budget that was presented to the School Board yesterday by Del Burns. It confirms last month's entry on this blog that the 22 MYR conversions will cost the county an additional 3.3 million dollars. Keung Hui broke it down like this in his blog:

One of the frequently asked questions is how much more money will it cost to operate the 22 schools that will be converted to a year-round calendar.

School administrators put a number out there today as part of a $29.4 million requested increase in funding from county commissioners. The additional funding for converted schools represents $3.3 million of that amount. Here’s the breakdown of the conversion costs:

* Local literacy months —$113,987
* Media specialist months — $6,918
* In-school suspension teacher months of employment — $4,125
* Social work months —$19,166
* Psychologist months — $21,547
* Counselor months — $43,471
* Salary differential for year-round school positions (principal, assistant principal, lead school secretary and NC WISE data manager)— $206,719
* Assistant principal months — $136,488
* Utility budget increases — $536,376
* Maintenance dollars to maintain year-round conversion square feet — $317,853
* Custodial dollars to include housekeeping of year-round conversion square footage — $39,732
* Intersession teachers and teacher assistants — $1,798,360
* Substitutes for 12-month staff for planning days — $53,609

This comes on top of the $2.9 million in capital costs the school board agreed to fund last month out of its reserve funds.