February 24, 2006

Meeting Summary

Goals/Objectives

Continue to build connections among committee members.
Share feedback from the Feb. 6-7 Emerging Issues Forum at NC State University.
Examine the infrastructure implications of growth for work force development and K-12 public education.
Review where we are in the committee’s process and where we’re heading next.

Welcome and Emerging Issues Feedback

Frank Holding Jr., Committee Co-Chairman, welcomed the committee and gave members a few minutes to spend talking with each other to get better acquainted. He then summarized feedback from committee members who attended the Emerging Issues Forum on Feb. 6–7 at NC State University. The feedback is included in notebook materials.

This meeting began a series of informational sessions intended to provide committee members with a better understanding of major capital projects that are planned or projected in various areas. Today’s topic was “Public Education,” and focused on plans for Wake Technical Community College and the Wake County Public School System.

Both Mr. Holding and Co-Chairman Fred Day reminded the committee that these sessions were aimed at providing information, and urged committee members to resist jumping to solutions but instead to learn as much as they can at this stage and to think about the information they would need to make recommendations on funding solutions in the future.

Wake Technical Community College Capital Plans Overview

(view entire presentation)

Dr. Steve Scott, president of Wake Technical Community College, presented an overview of the college’s recent expansion and its future needs and expansion plans. He discussed the college’s partnerships with the business community, provided data about the major programs of study and outlined projected student population based on growth projections to 2030.

Dr. Scott said the 10-year capital plan is projected to cost $177 million to help Wake Tech keep pace with growth needs. He outlined the financial options as:

Utilize Public/Private Sites
Internet Classes
Lease Shopping Center
Donations/Naming Rights
Bond Referendum
Purchase/Renovate Warehouse

Group Engagement on Wake Tech

The committee, led by facilitator Phil Boyle, worked in small groups to discuss and report back the answers to these questions:

1) What infrastructure needs and challenges did you hear that the committee should address?

Infrastructure issues hold back business and organizational growth
Parking (need for transit)
Land
Common approach to “area issues” may be a good start
Better understand the dynamics of community college support from the public
Access surplus space at existing businesses
Innovative space ideas best for non-lab courses
Stay-at-home Internet instructors
Mobile labs
Access to technology
More partnerships
Buildings
60% increase in head count
Need to scale/identify where growth is (i.e., clusters/industry)
Broadband
Complete I-540 (mass transit, connectivity, where are people going to live? allow density)
Multi-modal transportation options
Develop public transportation options to eliminate parking problems
Intensify efforts toward public/private partnerships
Communicate the needs to the community (i.e., people don’t know about the lack of space for teaching nursing, and there are numerous unused spaces – day or night – that could be used)

2) What other information would be helpful to you?

Percentage of on vs. off campus students (by hour of class)
Support for increasing off campus and Internet
Lateral training opportunities
Operational budget perspective
Further information on work done in private/public ventures
What existing resources are available? (hospitals/churches/businesses)
Number of students that WTCC serves that are high school dropouts
Space that isn’t being used (inventory) – i.e., RBC, Fairgrounds
Number of students with English as a second language
How much do we need from Wake?
Who’s done it? Who’s done it right? What can we learn from them?
Demographic on minority students
Training opportunities for service sector jobs

Wake County Public School System Capital Needs

(view entire presentation)

Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) Superintendent Bill McNeal outlined the needs for new schools and renovations from now to 2010, and discussed the upward trend in end-of-grade tests for all students. He said that Wake’s schools are successful, with a record number honored as Schools of Excellence (61) and Schools of Distinction (43). He also outlined the impacts of growth as:

Goal: 95% building utilization; Reality: 102% utilization.
Excessive mobile and modular classrooms – Goal: only 8 percent in mobile/modular; Reality: 17 percent in mobile/modular, including 24 percent of elementary students.
Strain on existing facilities (aging buildings need renovation every 40 years; $1.1 billion needed for major renovations over next 10 years; priority on health/safety and maintaining our investment in our infrastructure; strain on faculty and staff).
Changing student body (increase in non-English speakers; Special Needs students; increase in students receiving free/reduced lunch).
More Students = More Schools = New Operating Expenses (for staffing, maintenance, utilities)
Mr. McNeal presented three options currently under consideration for new schools and renovations through 2010, ranging from $1.375 billion to $1.975 billion depending on how many schools are converted to year-round calendars.

Group Engagement on Wake County Public Schools

The committee, led by facilitator Phil Boyle, worked in small groups to discuss and report back the answers to these questions:

1) What infrastructure needs and challenges did you hear that the committee should address?

High growth in school system
Class size reduction
School size
More year-round schools
Site location
Land
Buildings
Escalating construction costs
Recruitment & retention of teachers
Need 140 more schools by 2030
We are growing a poor school system (demographics are poorer)
Goals are high (good) but we are building poorer functioning (larger) schools
Because schools are not neighborhood schools, parental involvement has suffered – parents want to be involved but can’t
It’s not your school and not my school, but our school!
Improve the involvement of school board at the grass roots level
Pay teachers more
Need to include private/charter schools in the conversation
Running a HUGE investment deficit
Private sector build and own schools and lease back to the school system
Has to be addressed at state level
Equitable distribution of cost of public schools on taxpayers

2) What other information would be helpful to you?

Is land available, and at what price?
What is the appropriate mix of traditional vs. year-round calendar?
Why are non-land construction costs per square foot higher in Wake vs. Johnson County?
Who designs the buildings?
What are the costs of 95% utilization rate vs. higher?
What are the projections on infrastructure costs through 2030?
Teacher retention survey
Teacher turn-over rate for Wake vs. other counties
Present and future shared facilities
Joint County and town ventures for libraries, recreation, parks, etc. (like Athens Drive)
Presentation info given with data represented in percentages vs. raw numbers
Other successful models of school financing
Data/analysis on use of modular classrooms (are they really that bad? Why 8%?)
Growth of student “groups” (Free/reduced lunch, special education, English as a second language) as percentage of overall growth
Design cost analysis
More data on cost of new schools
Rethinking our space standard on prototypes that are used
Use of non-traditional facilities
Evaluate more charter schools
Incentives for parents who choose to home-school
What demographics are moving in?
What’s a fair number to pay? (for capital; operating fund also has to expand)
There’s a natural confrontation (needs vs. dollars), we need info so we can educate the public to make good choices
Locations and costs of sites: (Can more existing buildings be repurposed? Better education of bond options to the public outside the voting booth; Attracting and motivating educators to come to Wake County; Retention of quality principals)
What are the specifics of the opposition to a bond issue?