001nitions. Uh so we're back we're back to our normal and we're glad to see you here. Uh there'll be more to say about the recognitions for many of you a little bit later, but as we uh have already adopted an agenda, the first thing on the agenda is an invocation. So would you bow with me, please? Dear God, it's a privilege to be an American. And right now, many of us are concerned about the safety of our troops and especially those that are serving in the Middle East. So we would ask for wisdom for those governmental leaders that uh the right decisions might be made and we would remember the families of those who have already lost uh their lives over the last three days in the the war that's going on. We're thankful for
002our staff and the ones who are so dedicated and serving our students and our school community. and we ask for your guidance here this evening as we discuss and make decisions for the people who've elected us to represent them. We ask you to give us boldness to do what's right for our students. This I ask in your name. Amen. >> Next on our agenda is the pledge of allegiance led by Mr. Joe Codle. Would you stand? to the flag of the United States of America and to the stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you boards. You've received a copy of the minutes from our last meeting or February 3rd meeting. uh you've had a chance to see if there's any questions and if there are no questions at this
003time I would call for approval of the minutes from last meeting. Is there a motion? Joe makes a motion to accept. Is there a second? Stephanie makes a motion to for a second. Any questions? If not, all in favor? Show of hands. Motion carries 6. Which reminds me, uh Mr. Hunter Eugene uh Michael Hunter will be coming a little bit later. One of our board members that is absent, but he has a a family obligation that is taking care of right now, but he will be in a little bit later. Board, a couple things to remind you of what's happening over the between now and our next meeting. And the date of that next meeting is o uh April the 14th, which is a week later than our normal meeting. If you'll recall that we
004talked about doing that because of the spring break for Davy County Schools. So we will not be meeting on the 7th. We'll be meeting on the 14th. Um, also a big event in my opinion is the March the 17th when we do our character education program at Davy County High School for the elementary portion will be at 6:00 and then for the middle school high school at 7:15. Several of you have indicated that you uh will be there and you'll be delighted that you've attended and and see the students who sometimes don't get other recognitions get recognized for their character. And uh it's it's a wonderful night. And then before we come back for that April 14th meeting, our students and staff will be uh in spring break. You're not going to call off any
005days between now and then, right? I don't plan. >> I'm sure we all hope that that doesn't happen. So, uh, spring break starts on April the 6th and goes through the the the 10th. And I believe that's all I had to share except to remind all of our citizens that are here this evening that tomorrow is election day in Davy County and North Carolina and many other states. and hope that you'll feel uh obligated actually to go out and vote for the the people that you want to represent them just like many of you represented asked us to be your representatives four years ago. So please participate in that. Mr. Superintendent, Dr. Belchure, it's uh time for your superintendent report. >> Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Chair and Madame Vice Chair, board members. As always,
006it's a privilege to be able to to sit here and and share you with share with you some updates all across Davy County schools. And last week, um the last week of February February, we celebrated public schools week all across North Carolina. And just that opportunity reminded me how fortunate that I am myself to have been a a product of public schools and um and then as a parent for my own children as well. And of course, the the wonderful career and opportunity that I have now to serve in our public schools. the impact really of public education that it has on a community um should really never be taken for granted. I think that when I look back on it um that's not always the case. Sometimes we forget just the opportunity and the
007privilege that we have to be able to to have the opportunity to get an education and a quality education in our public schools. So, it's an honor and a privilege to serve the community and to continue the great tradition that we have all across Davyy County and with our school system and the future success that we continue to strive for each and every day. Human resources, it's that time of year um as you know whenever they start already thinking about next year and planning for aotments and start to get um retirements and all of the the staffing decisions that start to come in in the spring months. So, we appreciate their work as they are already looking ahead um and planning for next year. We did have the opportunity to meet with our teacher advisory
008committee um earlier in February just to take a look at um some some topics of conversation across our district and get some input from them. It's always great to be able to to hear back from our teachers and some of the input that they have and some of the decisions that were that are being made. Of course, I encourage all of you if you know someone or um have have someone that would like to work for Davy County Schools as we move into the spring and summer months, continue to monitor the web page because we will be hiring and are always looking for the very best and brightest candidates that we can get. So, encourage them to monitor the website to go online and apply for some of those positions as they come available. our
009attendance, our uh principal's monthly report shows that we have continued to bounce back somewhat from a little bit of a decline with our attendance over the leading up into the Christmas and then with exams. And so we're continuing to monitor that. You'll see up here some pictures, I think, of the spelling bee to the far right. That's always an exciting time. We had that a few weeks ago. There were a lot of gifted and talented spellers that represented our elementary and middle schools. Um, so is happy to see them and I know that we're going to recognize them a little bit later I think. So we're excited for that. But also want to point out we haven't not only had fantastic spellers in this room over in February, we also had some really good mathematicians.
010We had our first math fair. Was excited to see some of the creative thoughts that goes into solving some really um difficult and challenging math problems. And then of course we had at Ellis the math counts competition and certainly celebrate their accomplishments with that. And even in our elementary schools I had the opportunity to visit um Koolami Elementary and they had a love the data day and where students um all the way down to kindergarten were sharing just data and some of their academic progress and some of their schoolwork in a data notebook and was just really celebrating growth that our students make and it was really an honor to be able to get in there and listen and to participate in that. Spectrum News. They were at Davy High School and they're going to
011spotlight our FFA program during FFA week and um some of the CTE programs. They've done a fa fantastic job representing that. You'll see um that center picture there, what that looks like. And that's just one example of why public education is so valuable and our career technical education gives students a really unique opportunity. Um, so hopefully um you'll be able to catch that video and to see the story of FFA and how that makes a difference in a lot of our students every single day. North Davy Middle School students, you see on the the far left there, um, a picture that depicts the amazing shake and this is where students are evaluated by community members and volunteers and business leaders based on their charisma, their poise and confidence like eye contact, a good solid handshake.
012some of the skills that sometimes we take for granted, but it helps our students prepare for the future world of work. And so 200 students started off and participated in that. Then it was narrowed down, I think, to 12 in the round two and then to six and to finally three. So it's really exciting to see that outcome. I think that's finishing up today and so we'll hopefully have some updates with that next month. But congratulations to North Davy and all of the work that they did and that that school has done to help provide that opportunity for our students in high school. Um for our seniors, they're kind of already turning the page and are looking forward to June 6th and for the early college May 22nd, thinking about those graduation dates. So if
013you have not marked your calendar yet, parents, now's the time to put June 6th or May 22nd on your calendar to make sure that you're there for that. But for our eighth graders, it's time for them to start getting excited about going to the high school. And so we had Explore Davyy and it's registration season and um visiting campuses, all of those things that happen this time of year as we prepare to welcome our current eighth graders, future freshmen to Davy High School. Appreciate all the work that the school that that school has done in helping students get prepared and helping parents be as informed as possible about what the high school experience is like. And um I'll wrap up with just a few other things about athletics. It's hard to believe that we are
014wrapping up winter sports and boy, what a what a great season we had. Um there's a lot of accomplishments that we need to celebrate. Hopefully we'll get them in here next month to in in front of you in person. A lot of team competition, individual competitions, swimming had a record-breaking season. Had some some um school records that were broken. boys and girls basketball. They rallied their way into the playoffs and just wrapped that up. Indoor track, even with all the winter weather and some of the delays and chaos that that c that caused were able to get get in the the competition, their state competition and had a great season. And of course, I can't forget about our wrestlers, right? They had a great season and you don't get much better than being state champions
015in the dual 7A. So, congratulations to them and of course for all of the individual wrestlers as well. Like I said, we'll get them in front of you to celebrate, but just wanted to to celebrate that. And then to tell you, it's spring sports season now. So, we're getting back outside where we have baseball, softball, you know, all of the all of our our spring sports, lacrosse. There's so many things opportunities for you to get out and support your high school um with with our spring sports. And then we've got our with a change of semester, our arts programs. And if you haven't been able to um get get out to the high school to see some of the performing arts or some of the band programs, you know, they'll be full of um their
016music performance assessments and the clinics and competitions that they'll be getting ready for. So, in the coming weeks, we'll have we'll be celebrating Arts and Schools Month all across the district. It's a great chance for you to find a a date on your calendar and make it a priority to go out and see some of our the very best musicians, artists, actors, actresses, and dancers that we have in our county. The future's bright for them, and we're excited about that as well. I'll conclude with just a couple of final thoughts. Recently, um I was able to to visit William R. Davy, South Davy Middle, and North Davy Middle with our math and our reading coaches and able to get in and to see some of the instruction. we were able to get to visit more
017than 25 classrooms and really try to narrow down and look at engagement. And so our curriculum team, uh, Jen Line and I and her team that were able to go in and just see some of the good work that was taking place. We saw first graders learning to read using Letterland. A lot of you have seen that and some of the excitement that comes with that. solving some multi-step math problems that probably for most of us we saw those math problems in, you know, high school or maybe in junior high school and now they're getting them in, you know, fourth and fifth grade. It's amazing to see that level of math that they're working on. But I keep coming back to the moment that was shared when we were debriefing as a group and um
018it was really that conversation about how students want to learn and they want to know that they're successful when they're learning and so be able to see that in action. And so my message I think coming out of that, my takeaway for all of us is that our children are capable and their futures are really without limit. And our work and focus has to be to galvanize a coalition of advocates that invest and support public education so that no child graduates without an opportunity to be successful in life. We see that in our instruction. We see that in these these images up here and some of the activities and the events that have been taking place. and it's certainly um great work that's going on all across our classrooms in the county. I'll conclude by
019saying as we're looking for those advocates. Um I do as as Chairman Pototts mentioned um tomorrow, Tuesday, March 3rd is the primary election. I appreciate the service that all of our board has um has provided to our community. Serving as an elected official cannot be easy. I know that there's a lot that you have to take on and it takes a lot of time and a lot of thought into making those decisions. So, I appreciate the investment that each of you make in education as a board member in our schools. And then I also want to take a moment and just thank those that filed to run um to be part of the board of education. It's an important work. So, thank you for being willing to step out and do that. It makes a
020real difference in our community and certainly is very much appreciated. With that said, Mr. Chairman, I'll turn it back over to you. >> Okay. We really appreciate hearing how you've been out into the schools and being active and I know our principles and staff love to see you come around. So that's great great news. Any questions for the superintendent guys? Okay. If not, uh we'll start with the recognition part of the program. And last month, we were going to recognize the national uh board certified teachers that uh at the February meeting, but either fortunately or unfortunately we were able to postpone that to tonight due to the weather. And so hopefully that didn't mess up your schedules too much. But so at this time, I'll call on Carla Miner to uh introduce the teachers and
021make some comments. >> Yes. Thank you so much, Chairman Pototts, the board, um Dr. Belchure, and all the guests here. Honestly, Dr. Belchure, you did a fantastic job of setting up my part. So, thank you. Um as he's talking about that amazing work that goes into helping students learn and that genuine ability to be able to connect with them and see where they're at and celebrate where they are, it is quite the task and you all know that and you're very appreciative and and loving towards our educators. There is a process. if you're not familiar called the national board certified uh teaching process that is again national. It is set across all states and recognized as essentially the top tier whenever it comes to being an educator. They have gone through and said there's five
022principles that make up uh an educator that is both very much invested in their content but equally invested in every single student that's sitting in front of them. Now, in order to be able to do that, it is quite the process. Um, if any of you uh want to kick it back and try to fill what it's like to be a student again, you should check out the national board process. Um, you end up writing roughly 45 pages on your own. Um, you also have very much vulnerable interactions with your own work. It includes uh filming yourself, doing classroom lessons, doing quite a bit of reflection on your own practice. How are you going to support the students in that reflection? How can you change and adjust and have that continuous improvement that we value
023so much here at Davy County Schools? And so with that being said, we actually had eight staff members uh certify in. Once you get certified, that certification is good for five years and then you do a renewal process. And so very amazing for Davy County schools to have eight. That brings our number to 61. there are 23,000 in the entire state of North Carolina. So, the fact that we are bolstering over 15% of our teacher staff having this certification is absolutely exceptional. Um, again, I don't want to take too much away from the people I'm about to introduce because they have spent the past few years. Usually, this process is anywhere from one to five years. That's how long you have to do that initial certification. They've spent that time reflecting deeply on who they
024are as educators and are now nationally recognized as being the top of what it means to be an educator in this country. So if they are present, I ask you guys to come and join me as I call your name. We've got a certificate for you and again congratulations. So first from uh Cornancer, we have two actually that are going to be from um preK which is really amazing. I think that's the first in my time supporting national board teachers that have been prek. Um, so Tam Hudson. Our second prek from William R. Davey is Carrie Cranfill. Congratulations. We have Taylor Matisse from Moxville Elementary. We have Margaret Caldwell from Shady Grove Elementary. Moving on into uh middle school this year, we have Sean Gibbons from William Ellis Middle School. And then our last three
025are from the high school. First is Lindsay Kuster. Congratulations, Ashley Snider. And Erica Spry is our last one. I'm not Thank you guys so much for taking the time and celebrating these amazing educators with me today. Yes. And congratulations teachers. That is a wonderful accomplishment and it's one of the things that the state will pay you for. Sometimes we we do a lot of extra and don't get any any financial pay. it. You will. One more applause for these folks. Next, we have some Oh, Britney's ready to go, right? >> Yes. >> Okay. I'll just let you introduce it. How's that? >> Well, sure. Sure. My name is Britney Dar. I'm the choir teacher at the high school and uh we have every year we have had uh students audition for the Wingut Allar Carolina
026Select Choir and um it's an audition that is solely based on their voice. So they they do they sing a song a little section of a song um and I record them on my phone. It's very it's not high-tech at all. Um but they they record that song. I send it off and then they are picked solely on their voice. So this year they had over 800 people throughout the state audition and about 240 got in. Um and we had one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10 of those, which is a pretty big deal. We our first year that we did it, I had one person get in and then uh the next year I had four and then now 10. So it's u they're doing an excellent job. We've got a
027lot of talent this year. Um, so some of them were not able to be here tonight. So I'm just going to call all of your names and then we'll give you a big round of applause when you all get up here. So Abby Claremont, Elijah Defenser, Charleston Haynes, Jonah Holbrook, Sophia Penny, and Ashton Davis were able to be here tonight. Oh, sorry, that's Aby's. There you go. and Elijah and Justin and Jonah, Sophia and Ashton and Kiara Dow, Luke McCuller and Brad Mendoza and Harper Dyson also made the choir but were not able to be here tonight for various reasons. So we are very proud of you guys and happy for you. Thank you. Now we'll recognize our 202526 district spelling bee. Jen Lime. >> Hi, good evening. Um, our annual district spelling bee was
028held on Thursday, February the 12th. Um, we want to thank you to say a thank you to everyone who attended with a special thank you to our board members Dub Pot, Stephanie Hurst, and Jeff Jones. Um, I also want to mention our um, sponsors who were financial support for this event, and they're very much appreciated. Um, Venia's Italian Family Restaurant has always been um a a sponsor for us for this event and they are very very much appreciated. Um, Davy County Enterprise has also been a longstanding um, sponsor and recently we have added Skyline National Bank and so we want to thank those three um, businesses. So to compete in the district spelling bee, students must first compete at the school level of each of our elementary and middle schools. Therefore, we had nine school
029spelling bee winners who competed. And this evening, we want to recognize our district level winners who are were in first, second, and third place. So, I'm going to start with our third place winner. And our third place winner is Chase Uliano, and he is a fifth grader at Corner Elementary School. And our second place winner is Gavin Trivet. And Gavin is a seventh grader at William Ellis Middle School. And our first place winner is David David Chrysen Law and he is a seventh grader at South Davyy Middle School. All right. So, congratulations to all three of these folks. Um, David actually competed in the regional spelling be yesterday, March 1st, at the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. And we heard from the regional coordinator today that he tied for 10th place out of 60
030by missing the word empunius. None of us in the curriculum office knew what empunius meant or I I tested them. They could not spell it. I couldn't have either. So um we most likely would have missed that word as well. But I asked David to spell it and he spelled it for me. So, I'm going to have him come and spell it. >> David, spell impunius. >> Impicunius. I M P E C U N I O U S. Impicunious. >> That is correct. >> So, just in case you're wondering, it is a adjective pecunius. It comes from the Latin word pecunia which means money. So impeccunius means having little or no money. So congratulations again to all three of you. >> Speaking of money, I think they got paid too for being like you're right.
031Didn't they get a little bit of money for their good spelling? So, I'll I'll follow up on that. So, yes, our first place winner um received a $250 gift card. Our second place winner received a $150 gift card and our third place winner received a $100 gift card. And all of our spelling be winners received a $50 gift card. So, yes, thank you. >> Very good. Thank you for all your effort that you put into that as well. Those who may uh feel the need to leave, if you have students, please we'll we'll stop for just a second. If you want to, I'm not encouraging you to, but if you feel like you need to go home and get dinner and homework and all this kind, feel free to to go ahead and be dismissed.
032Okay, the next item on their agenda is the consent agenda. We've all had a chance to see each of the items. Um, is there a motion first of all to accept the consent agenda as presented? Jeff makes the motion. Is there a second? Stephanie seconds. Okay. Any questions about the consent agenda? All in favor of the consent agenda? Show of hands. Motion carries. Now 70. We'll move into our community and staff reports and I'm going ask Dr. Belchure to I'm sorry. >> Who second? >> Business items. >> I'm sorry. Let me back up here for business for a couple business items. The calendar revisions. Miss Haynes. >> Thank you, Chairman Pototts. Board members, I hope this is the last time that I will be bringing calendar revisions to you this year. After our last meeting
033in February, we had cleaned everything up and we had everything fixed that took us through February 4th. However, on February 5th, we had to call another breakday snow day for students um and an optional professional day for staff. That was actually a delayed day. um we could not use another remote day because we had already exhausted all five of our remote days. And so when we faced that situation, we did gather input from staff as well as parents and guardians. And so you'll see in your board packet I listed specific numbers in there from the survey, but an overwhelming majority preferred to make up that instructional day by taking the teacher work day that we had in March n on March 9th on the regular calendar and on February February 20th, which we've already had
034on the early college calendar. So, I just bring to you um a proposal to revise the calendar once more and make up February 5th either on March 9th on the traditional calendar or on February 20th on the early college calendar. >> We have a proposal from Miss Haynes for the uh adoption of the revised 2526 school calendar. Is there a motion to accept her recommendation? Stephanie makes a motion. Joe makes a second. Now, is there any questions for Miss Haynes regarding the calendar or for Dr. Belchure? If not, all in favor of the present presented calendar show 70. Thank you very much. Thank you, Miss Haynes. Mr. Harris, purchase of Chromebooks. >> Every year we take a look at our onetoone program. Um we we try to assess how many Chromebooks we'll need for our
035six our rising sixth graders and our rising ninth graders. Um David took some time and realized that we didn't need as many as we had bought in years past. We need 1140. So he went to Trfera um to order those uh Chromebooks. We had something set up. We typically do this through our capital outlay. um approval process. Um about a week or so after he got the quote from them, they called him back and said that if we waited until July to get our Chromebooks, they would be about $80,000 more than what they would be right now. Um and so we're presenting to you tonight to for us to be able to go ahead and purchase the Chromebooks now um with capital dollars that will truly that will actually be in next year's capital money.
036But to save $80,000, we wanted to go ahead and get on the front end of it now. Um to be able to go ahead and purchase those. So that's what's in front of you tonight from Dr. Blatner for our Chromebooks and our one to one. Okay. >> Okay. You've heard Mr. Harris recommendation regarding purchase from this year's capital budget. And would you repeat that number again? Did you say a number? Um, it's $441,662.30. Trfair. It's on a state contract. So, I mean, it's already competitively bid. >> Any other questions for Miss Mr. Harris? >> Okay. >> Quick question, Clay. Just I don't know if you know offh hand, do you know how many we had in the past? How how different is it this year? >> We we normally order about 1,200. So, it's about
03760 less than what we normally order. He went back to take a look. And this gives us a few extra for replacements. If if child breaks one and we've got to we've got to send it off to be repaired, it gives us some to be able to so they stay on their current model of Chromebook um through the whole year and not potentially have to go back to an older version um to be able to work on. So, they get one and they stay on the same version all year should something happen. >> Okay. Thank you. Anyone else have a question? Do we get a motion on that and a second? >> I'll make a motion. >> Okay. >> Con makes a motion. Marie makes second. Any more questions for Mr. Harris? All in favor?
038Show of hands. Motion carries. 70. Item 8.3, the fiscal year uh financial audit contract. Mr. Harris, continue on. >> Before you tonight is the contract with Anderson Smith and Wik um to perform our compliance and physical audit um from the financial standpoint. Um they've increased it by about $1,000. That has to do with Gatsby 103. Um it's interpretation, some more work, has um some additional reporting that has to happen in statements. um delivered by um that Gadsby 103. So I present to you tonight the this group for us to be able to work through the audit um for this this year. And so they'll they'll do the compliance over the next month or so. Then they'll be back in uh late July, early August to do the physical part of it. Um then and then
039do our statements, our comprehensive statements. So I ask you to approve it tonight so we can move forward with that. Okay. The recommendation for Mr. Harris is to approve Anderson Smith and White for >> That is not the right one. Yes, it is. That's her name is right. Anderson Anderson. >> Anderson Smith and White. >> Okay. I was thinking it was white, but it's white. Okay. Is there a motion to accept those as requested? >> Mr. Callum makes a motion. Is there a second? Mr. Hunter makes a second. Any questions now for Mr. Harris? All in favor? Motion carry 70. Okay, I believe that is all the business items we required to vote on. And now we'll hear from staff and committees. And I'm going to ask Mr. Dr. Belchure to introduce our first presenter.
040>> One more. >> Mr. Mr. Chairman, we got the um Davy County High School bond application. >> Thank you very much. Item 8.4. Sorry. Yes, sir. >> And again, that's Mr. Harris. >> Keep on rolling. >> Before you tonight is the debt service bond that um you have to approve and then we send it to the county for them to approve it and then um send it to DPI for them to write a $100,000 check um to the county as debt service for the high school. um this um if we approve it tonight, it'll go to the commissioners next month and then they'll get it back to me to be able to send it in so they can get their their check before the end of this fiscal year. So that's the reason we need
041to move forward with this. Um I ask for approval tonight to be able to give to the commissioners for them to approve it. >> Okay. Heard the recommendation of Mr. Harris. Is there a motion to accept the recommendation for the Davy High School bond application? Jeff makes the motion. Is there a second? Joe makes a second. Now, any questions for Miss Mr. Harris? If not, I'll improve. Motion carries 70. Now, I believe that's all the business items. Now, Dr. Belure, if you'll do your introduction, please. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So, I'm I'm uh pleased to have Preston Roseboro, who is the regional impact manager with my future NC with us. um this this evening, My FutureNC, he's based out of Greensboro and um is going to share with us the really pretty recent My
042Future NC 2026 attainment profile. And um board members, you may recall this is the attainment profile that really is just a good metric not only for Davy County schools, but for your community college and for your really overall just workforce readiness across the county. it's used across the state. Um Mr. Roseboro represents obviously our region and as our as our regional impact manager plays a critical role in helping um superintendent and school systems and community colleges plan for how to prepare a future workforce that meets the specific needs of Davy County and our region. So his expertise is certainly truly a benefit for our school system. And so he has shared with um leadership um previously and and some of our district administrators, but I thought it would be great to get him in here
043with this most recent update for the 2026 attainment profile. I do believe you have a copy of the attainment profile at your table as well as well and the presentation that he's going to share with us. Um it's also on your screen. So um Mr. Roseber, thank you for being here. >> Thank you Dr. Belchure, board staff and community members. Um, I'm Preston Roseboro, regional impact manager for My Future NC, uh, covering the Pedmont Triad region. Uh, not sure if you ever heard this, but My FutureNC, we're known for the slogan 2 million by 2030. Uh, which is a goal that was set by the state. Um, this is the state's goal, not my future NC's goal. It was codified in the state law back in 2019. And that goal is that by the year
0442030, we'll have two million individuals uh between the age range of 25 to 44 uh that have a post-secondary credential of value or degree. Um each county also has a portion of that 2 million. So I'll touch on a little bit of that for Davy County later on in this presentation. Uh happy to share that as a state we're now at 1.72 million uh which is up 19% from where we started in uh 2019. Uh back then we were at 1.45 million. So a tremendous amount of growth happening throughout the state. Um and confident that by 2030 we'll be able to reach that goal of 2 million. Uh but there is still work to be done. So we do need an additional 277,567 individuals in that 25 to 44 age range to have a degree
045or credential uh in order to meet our goal by 2030. Uh at my future NC we try to focus our work in three key areas which is to first monitor and report progress on how we're tracking as a state uh towards that goal of 2 million. Uh we also try to accelerate action um not just at the state level but at the local level which is why I'm one of eight regional impact managers. Uh we all live within our prosperity zones that we serve um to try to dig in with local stakeholders and accelerate action towards that attainment goal. And then we also identify and advocate for policy solutions. We've got two lobbyists on staff that are in front of the g general assembly often uh advocating for things that we think can help make
046it easier uh for attainment across the state. At my future, we're probably most known for our data. Uh so each year we release a new statewide attainment profile. Uh we also do 100 well a county profile for all 100 counties. Uh and then a couple years ago we started doing supplemental profiles as well. So now we do one for all 115 K12 districts. Uh we do regional charter school profiles uh and then prosperity zone profiles, workforce development board profiles and council of government profiles as well. Uh we track 18 different key performance indicators and break those down into four key transition points. uh those are academic readiness, college and career access, post-secary completion, and workforce alignment. Uh Davy County uh currently has 4,650 individuals in that 25 to 44 year old age range that have
047a post-secondary uh credential or degree. that is uh an increase of 785 uh from when we started tracking this back in 2019. So a significant amount of progress in a short period of time. Uh the goal so Davy County's portion of that 2 million is that by 2030 there'll be 6,047 individuals in that 25 to 44 year old age range with a credential or degree. Uh so we still got 1,397 uh additional residents needed to meet that 2030 goal for Davy County. Uh this shows the attainment rate for the county uh starting back in 2019. We skipped 2020 because that was a really rough year for everyone. Uh so we skipped that year. Um but it shows back in 2019 uh the attainment rate. So that's the percentage of individuals in that 25 to 44
048year old age range in Davy County that hold a post-secary credential or degree uh back then was at 42.9% uh and then 2024 which is the most recent data we have access to uh was up to 48.9%. So six percentage points growth uh from 2019 uh something definitely to be proud of here in Davy County. And this breaks it down uh instead of by attainment rate by numbers. But so on the left side of the slide, you'll see the population uh of individuals in that 25 to 44 year old age range in this county. And then on the right side, it shows the uh attainment number. So back in 2019, well, I won't go number uh yearbyear to save time. Uh but you can see that it this shows that it's not just population growth.
049why you all are seeing an increase uh in post-secondary credentials and degrees is the work that you all are doing here at Davy County Schools uh that Davidson David Community College is doing and other other organizations uh throughout this community. So you'll see that uh the population has only grown 4.4% since 2019 in that age range but the uh tamement number has actually increased by 20%. So again a lot to be proud of here uh in Davy County. Uh this slide shows the educ educational level breakdown of Davy County residents in that age range. Um so again, we've got 4,650 individuals that do have a credential or degree. Uh and 4,850 without. If you look at that little chart uh on the right side, um there's a significant number of individuals in that age range
050that just have a high school diploma or equivalent. Um and also a large number that have some college and no credential or degree. Um so those are the individuals that started but for some reason had to stop out. Um I know that Davidson Davyy Community College was part of a a initiative called NC Reconnect several years ago um to try to re-engage a lot of those individuals that had started at the college but had to stop out and saw significant success with that. Um, so I do expect that percentage to decrease. Um, but just offering that there is an opportunity for the county to focus on those two groups uh to try to get those individuals some form of either a short-term credential uh if not a full degree. And I know this is outside
051of K12's wheelhouse. Um but there are some districts that are doing some great partnerships on like dual generation uh initiatives focusing on the parents of students uh to try to get them re-engaged and uh interested and enrolled in postsecary postsecary education. Uh so just offering that as an opportunity for something to focus on uh moving forward. Um, so on the attainment profiles, you'll see in each of those four key transition points, we do uh put an opportunity for growth. Um, I'll preface that by saying uh some of these aren't necessarily opportunities for growth because you're doing great in the category that it says is an opportunity for growth. Um, but we've got to pick something. Uh so some of these are as you'll see uh so the uh family sustaining wage 55% of Davy County
052uh residents aged 25 to 44 earn a family sustaining wage meaning they have uh enough money to meet their basic needs and this is adjusted uh by household size. Uh in my opinion 55% is great. I live in Guilford County. We're not at 55%. Uh so again something to be proud of even though it's listed at an opportunity for growth on the attainment profile. Um but the pier county so um David County is categorized as a rural metro county meaning you border one of the urban counties here in North Carolina. Um other peer counties uh are at 58% which is why that's listed as an opportunity for growth. Um, adult learners, uh, 17% of Davy County adults in that age range have some college, no degree. Again, uh, in comparison to Pier counties, uh, you're
053doing better than, uh, well, not necessar I'm sorry, I'll take that back. You're just close to uh, what the Pier County average is for that. So, that's why that one's listed as an opportunity for growth. FA completion, uh, Davy County Schools is doing great with FA completion. 62% um in the most recent FAFSA cycle. Uh the peer average is 56%, this is only listed as an opportunity for growth on the profile because the state goal is an ambitious 80% um which is difficult to reach. There are some districts that are reaching it though. Um so again, that's why that's listed as as an opportunity for go growth. And then lastly, reading performance. Uh 30.3% of third through eighth graders earned a college and career ready score in reading. Uh again that's above the peer average
054of 25% uh but slightly below the state average of 30.8% which is why uh that's listed as an opportunity for growth. >> Preston if I could just make a comment on these last two particularly. So the FAFSA completion at 62% and the state goal at 80%. One thing that I think is really important um for all of us to understand that is really important for Ignite Davyy because to qualify for Ignite Davyy the the student has to complete the FAFSA and a lot of times they don't may like a student might not think they're going to go to co go to community college or do any kind of post-secary work or the other side of that is some families think well we're not going to get any financial aid support so why bother filling out
055the FAFSA well part of that is because to qualify for Ignite Davey then you definitely need to have that FAFSA taken care of. So that's just a piece of information um to emphasize. And then the reading performance, one of the questions that I get a lot when we look at the attainment profile is like 30.3 looks awful and that causes a lot of alarm. Keep in mind that that is a college and career ready. So that is a score four or five on the end of grade and end of course te test. And so you've got grade level proficiency which is a three, four or five. Then you have college readiness as an indicate indicator which is that highest level to put that in perspective. And Preston I appreciate you including the peer average and
056the state average. That's very helpful in bringing some context to that. But I went in and looked what is the highest performing right now school district in the state. It's Union County um overall composite. And just to give you what they're at, they're at 43.6%. So that kind of gives you an idea of what does that look like and not that we're comparing but if if you were to look like Davidson County is at 26.3% within that metric. So yes 30.3 can be alarming but the standard there is pretty darn high um for our kids to meet. So I just wanted to pause a moment Preston to point that out. Thank you. >> Thank you. I also want to add I'm not a huge fan of the term college and career ready score because plenty
057of students that aren't reaching that score are still going to end up with a successful career or enroll in college. So, uh just throwing that out there as well. >> Who are some of those peer that might be in the in the Pedmont area? >> Um >> so who else bought us for I >> Yad Ken would be one. Yes. >> Casual. Um, Caswell's too far removed from an urban county. Uh, I think Rockingham is categorized as rural metro. Um, Randolph as well. Uh, Davidson. Yeah. Um, so yeah, some of those. >> Okay. Thank you. >> No problem. >> Uh, so I just took a screenshot of some of the the uh parts of the profile um that I thought would be good to highlight here. So, post-secary completion um 84.5% of the 2022 high
058school class at Davy High School uh enroll who enrolled in college did persist to their second year. Um if you look at Pier counties, they're nowhere near where you all are there. Um and then also you're above the state average as well in that category. Um and then looking at uh the next point, 68.3% of the 2017 class uh that did enroll um who enrolled in college earned a degree or certificate within six years. Again, that's above peer average and state average as well. So something again to be very proud of here. Moving on to college and career access. Um, I just wanted to put this slide up there because it shows that Davy County, you all are the blue dot. Um, you're either above or right at the, uh, statewide average in all of
059these demographics for enrollment within 12 months of graduating high school. So, again, uh, something absolutely to be proud of. Again, to your point about Ignite Davey, I'm sure that's probably got something to do with this. Um there's not a lot of counties doing a college promise program like that. Uh so a lot of other counties are their blue dot is behind some of them well behind uh the gray dot. So just wanted to give you all a round of applause uh for for doing great in enrollment um and college access. Um, looking at academic readiness, uh, Davy County, uh, has already met the goal for preK enrollment that was set, which is 75%. Um, again, that's above the peer average and the state average. Uh, I don't know if anyone else in the Peont Triad,
060um, I don't remember looking at any other profiles and seeing that anyone else has reached the preK enrollment goal. So again, another thing to be proud of here in Davy County. Um, and then looking at those those scores, again, we already talked about the reading score. Uh, but look at that math score. 46.2% of third through eighth graders earn a college and career ready score in math. Uh, which in comparison to peer counties, um, peers were at 32.3% and the state average was 37.3%. Um and then lastly, uh touching on chronic chronic absenteeism, uh which I believe are students that miss at least 10% of the days within the school year. Um 19.6% here in Davy County. Uh the peer average there is 27.4% and state average is 25.7%. So below those as well. Uh
061looking at labor market alignment. Um again we already touched on the family sustaining wage. Um I wanted to look at opportunity youth. So uh that's the young adults in that age range of 16 to 24 that are not in school or working. Um so in David County that's 12.7% which is below the peer average of 148 14.8% uh but above the state average slightly of 10.3%. Um and then 85% of adults in that age range of 25 to 44 in Davy County are participating in the labor force. Uh which is both above the peer county average and the state average as well. Lastly, just wanted to share some of our legislative priorities priorities, our advocacy agenda. Uh we're actually this year working on something called the workforce act that we're hoping uh will be sponsored
062by several members of the general assembly this year. Um so we're focusing on workbased learning. So 3.1 million and again this is funding that would come from the state. 3.1 million recurring funds uh to support apprenticeship NC uh 1.5 million in non-recurring funds uh to enhance the NC careers platform which a lot of districts um and other organizations are using for career development plans and things like that um to make sure that students and adults have some type of plan to um reach their career goals. Uh also looking for seamless education pathways. So 5 million recurring funds uh to enhance the dig digital transcript system uh to improve transfer capabilities. So um CFNC actually got some funding a few years ago to develop a digital transcript which will be similar to my chart for education.
063Um so basically people won't have to pay $10 or however much you have to pay now to get a transcript printed. uh whenever you're trying to enroll in school or uh if you need it for a job or something like that, there would be a digital transcript in North Carolina uh that would basically follow you throughout your um educational uh journey. Um so pushing for that. And then lastly, employer value credentials. Uh so 1.35 million in recurring funds for short-term workforce grants. um that so this would go towards those programs that would not be covered by workforce pel which we're excited about rolling out in uh July but workforce pel won't cover all programs some of them are too long um some of them there's different reasons why there there it's not covering all programs
064so this would be for funding that uh could go towards short-term workforce credentials that are not covered by workforce pill and then some of our partner support items for NC College Connect, PropelNC, uh the next NC scholarship, um NC needsbased scholarships, boost uh completion assistant grants, and NC works. Um so, how do we move uh the number both locally and statewide um focus on expanding access, uh reducing barriers, uh find ways to increase completion, and that's going to help us reach that goal of 2 million. uh by 2030 and beyond. Lastly, wanted to leave you all with a call to action. So, familiarize yourselves with your county level data uh and how it compares to peers and the state averages. Also, want to suggest to pick on pick one or two focal points per year
065uh based on what the data tells you on what you should focus on as a county. Um continue to make workbased learning a focus. Uh we're pushing for that really hard now in my future and see um because it's just such a great way to both get students connected to careers um and education and then stay connected with your regional impact manager. Um I'm a phone call, text message, email away. Uh so if you ever want to connect, feel free to reach out. Uh so now I just want to open it up for questions if anyone has any. There's a lot to unpack here. >> Yeah, I know. >> Preston, we appreciate you taking time to share that. And if they don't if they have a moment to think about questions, I do want to
066just recognize Mr. Coun and a lot of the work that CTE does. You notice a lot of this align nicely um with um and that's part of the reason he's here, Advanced Manufacturing Lab, right? And so just getting our minds kind of in that that frame of mind about how do we continue to meet industry and workplace needs on our high school campus and have that connection with our local community college and then eventually through pre-apprenticeships and apprenticeships um with our local industry and and some of our um partners that that really are doing the work every day. So appreciate your work, David, and your team and everything that y'all do to help make that happen. It's obvious that there's a lot of things that we should be very proud of and there's a few
067things that we could do better. >> I was my the biggest jump off the page for me was 19.6 of the students were chronically absent from school in 2024 and the state averages one out of every four students. That blows my mind. I would have never guessed that chronic absenteeism would be so high. I think 19 is awful, but 25 and wow. >> Yeah, it's a huge issue statewide. Um, and I don't know, it seems like since co uh I don't know, parents aren't making their kids show up for school as much as they used to. Um, >> and so one thing I'll I'll point out as well on that same note, and of course, and Mr. Roseber mentioned that that's 10% missing up to 10% of the the school year excused or unexcused. So
068it doesn't differentiate. And so just keep in mind for example um exam exemptions, right? I mean if that's counted as an absence that's automatically going to impact that because they're students are rewarded for good attendance and then they get they have that exam exemption but then it's going to count into the absent rate here for being chronically absent. So there's some nuances like that that the general public doesn't understand. We we get it when we're looking at that data. So there's a lot of conversation right now um with the with NCDPI about okay maybe excused absences and like exam exemptions should be coded differently so that it doesn't count on things like this. seniors graduating missing the last two days because they've already completed all the stuff and to be counted absent is just somewhat
069unfair in my mind. I I don't know what the solution is. But if we don't expect them to be in school, they shouldn't be counted absent. Right? >> That's my point. >> All right, guys. What questions or comments you might have for Preston? Preston, thanks for the um presentation. It was great. It's interesting to hear your perspective coming from the other counties and hearing how we are doing compared to other counties because we tend to just get caught up in what we're doing here. So, I really appreciate you taking the time to give us this information, but also to share what's going on around us. Um, and then just it's interesting and thank you for your advocacy at the legislative level as well because as we're hearing we often have to work through a lot
070of things the legislative level here in our own district. So just no questions but just thank you. >> Thank you. Sometimes we think only the high school teachers are getting the credit when when we start talking about the number of people who receive degrees and move on to the next level. That's certainly not the truth. So if you're not in the high school level, you still play this very important role of these figures becoming as great as they are. So, we say thank you to all of them >> and and of course to the high school. >> And Dove, I'll say too, it's really interesting how you said that >> prek enrollment were one of the best that you've seen. >> And I think that lends to the entire way through their >> educative absolutely
071career, right? I mean, that's how important prek is. >> That's the foundation for sure. >> Yeah. So, it's nice to see data that supports that. And I'll point out on that prek number, it's important to emphasize that is a needsbased number through NC preK. So I know that there's a lot of conversation. We're going to talk a little bit about just the pre the early childhood education needs across the county, but that number in this data specifically focuses on those who qualify B incomebased needs-based preK program through NC preK. So that's an important differentiation, but you're exactly right that is critical in helping meet that need. so that they can go on to have success in elementary, middle school, high school, and eventually with their post-secary opportunities as well. >> Any more questions? >> Can
072I add one other thing? >> Yes, sir. >> If you don't mind, the I I don't want us to lose sight of apprenticeships, pre-apprenticeships, internships. I've got a little bit of a connection with that group and it's phenomenal what our program does to be able to do that. We are head head above districts around us and what we do um and and what I hear on a regular basis about just how engaged we are. Um Mr. Coun, Elise Waldridge, that whole group just making sure that we we have that opportunity for our kids. It just doesn't that doesn't I'm gonna take gesture that doesn't just happen with where we are and how it goes. I had a conversation over the weekend with our connection there and she was just unbelievable complimentary about how we do
073what we do and our concern for our kids. So I just I want to make sure that we we say an extra thank you to that group doing that which which drives this as well. So >> thank you for that Clay. Anyone else? I want to add just one other thing. Um, as we talk about preschool, I think it's important as we think about the history of Davy County Schools and the investment that the Meban Foundation, um, and Allan Meban over the over many, many years and the the money that was put into creating lots of preschool classrooms across our county. Um, and that investment goes on. >> Yep. >> All right. All right, no other questions. Thank you all so much for your time. >> Thank you. >> Appreciate it. >> Thank you. >>
074Dr. Belchure, enrollment trends and school funding. >> So board, I have um placed in your packet three attachments. Um one is just a presentation that I'm going to work through pretty quickly and it's more just for you to go back and to think about um and to look at some data. The second one is just some of the overall data um for our enrollment trends. And then the the third is um one of the strategic plan peelers for the state on galvanizing public education. And so when we have this conversation and um I share with you some of the um enrollment trends that you're going to look at. Uh I want to just highlight we're looking really overall just of some some planning and preparing um some of that that those documents. And so I
075don't know if we're going to have that pulled up or not. I've got it in front of me and hopefully there it is. All right. And so when we're looking at this um a couple of things and I probably maybe I need to go over there to control that. Yeah. I didn't want to be too formal with this. So I was kind of hoping I could be informal. So, I've got the clicker now. And so, part of the things, this is really a highlevel overview of looking at just some of what enrollment looks like in our county. And we've had a lot of conversations already about capacity enrollment, but this is going to go into just a little bit more detail with some of that just to get an idea of the impact really of
076um public charters, private schools, home schools, and and what all of that looks like for our school system now and potentially in the future. And so part of what we have to recognize is that we're seeing continued competition. We've had some conversations about that and that naturally presents some challenges for us on this board and for future boards to think about. And then we're continuing to monitor more closely the in migration of families as we've mentioned before due to some of the housing construction across the county. And so as we look at that, one thing that's important, if you haven't heard this term before, um Clay does a really good job reminding us and educating on us in the county um at the district level about funding in our ears. And that's where we used
077to have to base our aotment planning and initial aotment dollars and everything based on projections of what our ADM was looked like. Now, um that's changed. that funding model has changed at the state level. And so it's really based on current numbers. And so you'll see in that first bullet that we're um anticipating a 1.51% decline um from the 612 ADM that we currently have to 5,921. Now, if that number changes next year, they'll true that up if we end up closer to that 612 where we're at now. Um, Clay, you tell me if I misspeak on any of this because you are the resident expert, but that's that's kind of what we're using right now when whenever we're talking about our initial planning aotments. It's based on that 5921 that we're anticipating for next
078school year. Overall, you can see that this is not unusual across the state. We've had that conversation. You can see that there's a 1.76% decline. And this last bullet is one that's probably more troubling than some of the others that we look at. 108 of the 115 LEAs will have a decline in enrollment for the 26 27 school year. 94% of our LEAs across the state will have fewer students in classrooms. And so we try to see well why is that? Now that that other packet that I put in there, it's going to show you all of the list of counties and even those that are that are growing, they're only growing like 15 20 students. It's not like they're growing by 200 students. I mean, it's just a handful of students, even in those
079eight or whatever that number is that's that's seeing some growth. Here's a comparison. I just pulled those that border us. You get an idea of what that looks like. Um 91 students for us. That's one where we get the 1.51%. You can see um all across um in our region what that looks like. So here's part of the reason why um in understanding this this isn't I don't think unusual or or something that we don't understand but when you look at the numbers it kind of elevates the conversation a little bit. So this is public charter schools. We don't have any public charter schools in Davyy. What that gray bar graph represents that's the number that we that basically Clay has to send money to that our students attend. That's 12. It could be a
080charter school in for Scythe County, Airedale County, could be in some other part of the state if it's an online charter program. And so that's where we've seen and and really about 2011 is when charters first came kind of came onto the scene and they slowly increased and you can see now since co we've really starting to see some impact with students that have access to charter programs that are residents of Davyy County that are going to those that are exercising that charter option. homeschools has been pretty pretty steady over the last um five years or so. You can see typically we plan for around a thousand students um that we that we I don't want to say lose because they may have never been in Davy County. They may have been homeschooled for for
081since they were a child and have continued to be homeschooled. But that's that's the impact on ADM. A lot of times never um I get the question, well gosh, you know, I remember when we had 7,000 students in Davyy County. Well, a lot of them are here's where they're at now is in charters, in home schools, or even in some cases in private schools. And this is one where you look and see now we are seeing um kind of another layer of challenge when it comes to enrollment in ADM and that is the private competition. You can see we've got right now um four private schools um and that's that's um Pedmont Hope Academy, Soore Academy or the TPH Academy at Rise, Trinity Baptist Academy and Westwood Village Learning Center, all private schools that have
082um that are in Davy Davy County. You can see there's 109 children or students that attend those private schools. That's almost doubled really has doubled over the last five years or so. So, just um make a note of that. I think we'll probably talk a little bit maybe why that is in just a moment and why that's going to continue to be a challenge for us. And so, now that we've talked about public charter schools, we've talked about home schools and private schools, the the next sort of wave of school choice options is the virtual charter movement. You can see here um 13% increase 476 students um from the North Carolina virtual academy which is a virtual public charter school that students now it used to be you were kind of limited by your geographic
083location if you could attend a charter or not. Well, now because of some of the online and the virtual opportunities, you can see that school there um increased 476 students. When you compare that with the numbers that we looked at with some of the declines certainly can recognize as to why that um is such a challenge. Now, here's where the dollar sort of starts to hit. Now, this is not exact. This is the these are estimated dollars, but potentially with just the ADM, we already know that we're going to um lose some initial funding due to just having 91 fewer students. Now, there's also a lot of conversation right now at the state level about tax rates and whether or not um some of the the the tax rates stay the same or if they
084decrease taxes at the state level. So there could be some additional um reductions in funding that we receive based on what um the house and the senate decide to do in the general assembly about the the rate of tax the tax rate that they have. And so you can see it could be you know 1 million to nearly 4 million that could impact Davey just based on that. We already know based on some of our initial aotments that um in our initial kind of funding formulas where with that 91 student decrease, we're anticipating at least $500,000 that we could be having to to lose um just because of the ADM changes. When you look at charter, um I believe um Clay, we've got 65 students around $130,000 um that that you have to pay out
085to those charters, >> right? And the the big driver for us on the charter when he talks about virtual. Um three years ago virtual cost us $790 per student. Three years ago they put in statute that we had to give even the virtual along with brick and mortar the same amount of money. So a student that was $790 and 2223 is $2,300 today. And so that's that's what drives that $130,000 up. I mean, when you take a look at the number of students that because the vast majority are in a virtual option and so that's that's one of the reasons our our charter payments have have been such a r have been growing so exponentially over the last couple years. >> And so and of course with that then we look at our home and
086our private schools. And you know this is this number here at 1176. Um, keep in mind overall between state, federal, and local dollars, we have a a PPE per pupil expenditure of of 11,47. And this is this math isn't exact, and there's some nuances there, but if we were to have all,00 of those students back in in Davy County, potentially that would be $13 million that we could get back um through that enrollment. Now, we don't obviously ever anticipate or expect that we would have,00 students come back, but you can get an idea of a dollar amount. And so, when you put that all together with what the the the options that families have, I it's really at a at a cost of around 15 to 17 million that the school system, I don't like
087to use the word loses, but it's just money that that is going to other options for families. And so, what does that mean? And and of course, why is some of that possible? And if you don't know about opportunity scholarships, this is um what an opportunity scholarship is. It is a state funded voucher program that provides tuition assistance to families. Um and so it's tier-based and can range from 3500 to 7,900 per student. There's no income gap with this. Multiple children in the same household can qualify. funds cannot be um used for full-time homeschool attendance, but can be used for dual enrollment. Um so for some homeschool students that are are looking at a home private option, I just point that out because there's a lot of conversation, you're going to continue to hear from
088the legislators, a lot of discussion around opportunity scholarships and increasing the state budget that is allocated for opportunity scholarships. So just keep that in mind particularly as information comes down from the state about what that might look like in the future. Now there is some there are there are things to to recognize and to point out that I think um I want to spend some a little bit of time just as a point of emphasis. You can see these are these are again those same counties that border us. You can look at our total per pupil expenditure. We're at 11407. Um we're um you know somewhat competitive. Um you can look and see at how that breaks down by state, federal, and local dollars, but I particularly appreciate um where we stand in some cases
089locally. And you look at our local rank and um and this is all public information. You have I've g in that data sheet, you'll see where I've included all the 115 LEAs that you can see. So 58th locally, so we're really getting hit hard with our federal rank at 105th as you can see where that plays out. total overall 101. Uh but then look at our performance composite and this is just our overall grades three through eight reading math and science where we perform at on the on the state state test and the accountability model you can see 21st it's highest in our our region out of our peers and I just point that out because to be ranked um 21st in performance the top cortile in the state and to be funded in the
090bottom quartile it shows you that we do a lot our teachers do a lot with less in a lot of cases. And I think that's an important talking point um just to just to keep in mind and you know whenever it's tough and our teachers get discouraged but when you look at that particularly as we get into budget season and some of the challenges it's important just to remember we can do that despite some of the budget challenges that we face. I titled that return on investment because that's essentially what it is. I mean, our our taxpayers and um citizens of Davy County um should celebrate that and recognize the return on investment that that we're able to provide. >> Dr. Belchure, can I ask a question on slide 11? Um I'm just Can you
091just explain the federal PPE and why Davies is the lowest there? >> Do you know? I don't know. >> No, I don't know. I don't know how to justify or quantify federal. Do you know why federal would be why we're ranked lower? How that money's determined? I mean it's a factor of the federal dollars that we get what we qualify for. So I mean you start talking about um free reduced percentages um need that type of thing and so that's that's the reason the number is where it is when you take a look at it's just our federal funding that we get. >> Okay. It was just because like Rowan Salsbury is 1500 and we're at 500. So it's I'm like wow. >> Yeah. And so a lot of that's probably povertydriven perhaps. And um
092and I know Mr. Coons deals a lot with our federal programs and federal budgets and understanding that and I think sometimes it's like none of us probably really have an exact understanding of how that money money is allotted. >> Um >> some of those >> okay >> recent Okay. >> So, once again, it's coming down to the grants and us having to apply for grants instead of getting the money allocated, >> right? >> Like we should. >> Okay. Thank you for helping me understand it. >> And so part of what And so, you know, some of the what is what can we do or or what does this mean whenever we're losing funding? How do we generate additional funding? And um you know a lot of times we get the question about well you have
093tuition um that out of county residents or out of county enrollments um pay and you can see here discretionary admission. I mean we've been pretty steady over the last five years with the number of students and then the numbers that we have had to release to other counties. I just put that data in there so you could could kind of see um what that looked like and um get an idea of where some of those were going. our state aotment formulas. And I this is this is uh Jinda Haynes world. She's a master at this. So she knows all of these formulas and how you go in and plan. But I just point this. It's not easy. The formulas are outdated. They're archaic. And so she's trying to work with formulas that really don't meet
094the educational needs today. I mean, you look at the teacher assistance and I don't think anybody really understands like when you look and you say, "Well, why is there only x number of teacher assistants in this school versus this school or this classroom?" When you look at how that formula is determined, um, and it's it's pretty complicated. Um, and as she's trying to crunch numbers and figure all of that out, it's it's just not easy sometimes. So, she's in that world and living that right now. agenda. I don't know if you had any comments or anything you wanted to add to that slide, but um we just appreciate what you do with those. >> Go back to that slide just a minute. One thing I want to point out when you look at that second
095bullet says program enhancement teachers, that's just K5 that we're funded. We have program enhancement teachers across K12. And so that that goes into part of this um trying to put teachers in all of our schools, but middle school and high school, we don't get aotted for those um language, PE, all those all those other things. And so that that's a piece that that becomes very challenging to figure out where we go. This doesn't take into consideration our special needs, our CT our um EC teachers. they're funded differently from this and how how we go about that. And so this is this is just core education when you take a look at it. I mean AIG other categorical type things and other programs are funded differently and we're not funded for the number of students we
096have identified when we talk through these aotments. I will add one other thing as as Clay talked through that um the partnership between finance and HR is critical as we look at aotments and determine staffing. Um we always want to staff more than we are able to but it really comes back to budget and and what our allotments are. So >> that assistant principal aotment one month for every 98.5 students Yeah. And >> our middle schools would have a half a year of assistant principal period >> if we right >> didn't put extra funds in that. >> Well, and then and and that's exactly right. And then you look at some are a position allotment, some are a dollar aotment, and then some are months of employment aotment. And and so it depends on which
097world you live in, what that language and and you know what what that looks like. um for those that are making some of those funding decisions. So, I think there are some policy things that we can do and um in just a moment you'll you have in your packet the some discretionary admission policy recommendations as well as well as school assignment. I'll just go ahead and and recap some of these and that discretionary admission we're looking at making our language align with um some like that if you're just wanting to enroll or be released because of athletic purposes. because we're putting in policy to align with the North Carolina High School Athletic Association that that that you know that you can't do that. Um we're trying to make that more explicit in that policy. Then
098school assignment. Um having some conversations about how principles can immediately revoke school assignments that are based on a transfer when a student is no longer in good standing. Um right now they have to wait until um you know the end of the school year before that transfer is revoked. So a so a student that's um here on a in their building on a transfer but then they're coming to late late to school or they're not coming at all um being or having you know discipline challenges with that um right now the principal would have to wait until the end of the school year to address that um based on the transfer. So now having them to be able to immediately address that um I think will be will be helpful with some of those challenges.
099Then again addressing the um athletic part of the the high school athletic association policy. And then finally um there's always opportunities to come to kind of look at and to um take a look at what does our extracurricular and activities with student organizations say about dual enrollment for participation in homeschool students um and in the fee schedules associated with access to special programs. And there is actually has been a and I just point this out. Um there's not been a lot of traction on Senate Bill 48, but if you have a chance to go in and look at that, basically that particular legisl piece of legislation would require public schools to allow home schools and other students that aren't enrolled to participate in extracurricular and athletic programs. hasn't been a lot of traction on that,
100but I think it's important just to understand the climate and the culture in Raleigh when it comes to school choice and competition and some of the challenges. And that bill really does kind of put some of that in perspective with some of our elected officials and where they're at um with that. So certainly I think we'll hear more about some of that in the future. Um and you and um just it's important to kind of stay tuned or stay in tune with with what that might look like. And if that passes, we wouldn't get any funding coming because they're not >> That's exactly right. >> So, yeah. >> So, some next steps for us, policy review, um continue to look at those and and revise as needed. Um it's going to be really important when
101we're talking about funding and um some of the the funding that we need to remain competitive. And I think this is just when we go back to that ranking, the federal versus the state. if it were not for our local ranking, just how detrimental that would be to us as a system. And so really advocating and having some understanding around the interlocal agreement and how that local funding is really important to be 58th. It's it's something to be proud of, but we definitely don't want to lose or slip in that ranking because it would only impact us in our total overall ranking. And continue to adv advocate at the state levels for some funding um reform. And then finally, the the fourth bullet there is just champion our public schools as we've kind of had
102that theme throughout the night, which is why I've dropped in there some information on pillar eight of the North Carolina strategic plan is to continue to galvanize our our local champions, those that are um you know in our neighborhoods that are in in our businesses um to continue just to expand their voice to be engaged and involved and then eventually move you know to action to help support our school system. So, I wanted just to to give you an update there. Certainly, if you have any questions, I dropped in there some more of the overall data. That's just a data file that has some of the overall rankings and um the number of of what ADM looks like for all of the 115 LEAS that you can reference whenever that's convenient for you. Any questions?
103>> I have one question. the Davy students, they're attending the charter schools. Do we fund those students at the same rate that we fund the kids in our schools, which is what 11,000, excuse me, 11,04 in that area? >> So, and Clay, you're probably going to have to rescue me on this. I may have to phone a friend, Joe, but the So, they do not get um local dollars, charter >> charter schools. They only get from us local dollars. So every year I take a look at where we are from a local perspective. So we get $14 million. We've got 1,400 kids. I'm trying to make it easy. I mean that that's what they get. So all their state, federal, everything that comes from DPI. Now we get an adjustment for attendance to charter schools
104in month three um from our state a lotments. So we do lose some money from a DPI perspective, but I only write them a check for what was our amount that we got from local government. >> So our interlock agreement, those dollars goes to those. >> So it's about $2,300 this year is where we are. And so and it's divided over nine months. They have to send me an invoice. They have to send me the enrollment, the address for the individual. And then we bounce that against making sure that they're not in our school somewhere. and then we write them a check and nine months, nine out of 10 months for that $2,300 um for them to get that that amount of money. >> But that's not the same. We don't do that for the
105private school students or the >> No, it's just charter school. >> Just charter school. >> But overall, they get the same amount of money per child for private school as they do public traditional public school because they're getting the the state funding per pupil. Is that correct? I'm asking I'm not stating. >> Repeat your question. I missed >> for the total funding for a child in charter school. >> Okay. >> They're going to get a per pupil amount at the same rate of our per pupil amount from the state >> for that particular county. So when you you looked at how they were funded, >> right? So if there's 1100 students, it'd be funded, 1100 students from the state, >> right? Based on we would add the,00 students for what our local funds per student
106happened to be >> right >> and I don't know about the federal I assume I don't know if they get federal funds or not that >> they would get them ba based on what their their need and what they applied for whatever the case may be >> but they're not having to follow the same rules that you guys have to follow am I correct on that >> you're talking about charter schools >> charter schools >> that's correct >> okay thank you very Yeah, they have a lot of different um they have a lot more funding flexibility, lensure flexibility for staff. Any other questions? Very good. Very good. Any more questions? Okay. If not, then we'll move on to the budget priorities. Dr. Bel, if you'll continue, please. >> All right. So, we're going to pull
107up what we shared with the commissioners and a lot of this is not new um to you all. Um you've seen this information before and um I just put this in your packet just to kind of give you an idea of what that budget workshop looked like and um for you to take a look at. Just a couple of things I do want to emphasize. Um, you know, when we when we shared and presented to the commissioners, they were very receptive and open um to to what we shared. And um, Jinda, Clay, David, um, McKenzie was all there to help and just to really kind of advocate for what some of those needs were. And so in that, you've got the slideshow. I'm not going to go through all of it just so that you'll
108know. Yeah, I don't know that it's uh Yeah, there there we are. I don't know that I can can I control it? >> Okay, very good. So, when we look at we just started off, I always like to highlight just the um the daily operations that that we're responsible for. 1.33 million square feet and buses that travel 3,800 miles a day. We talked told them about our strategic plan, how we're working on um revising that and so that's kind of um getting up and and running and so um just pointed that out to them. You all seen the the capacity and we've had that conversation and and of course the 9.5 million that was identified in our last um facility needs assessment and of course we're um revisiting that. That's every five years. We've talked
109about the market share and the continued challenges. We've just basically taken that pie chart and had a lot of conversations with that enrollment trend presentation that sort of explains that which by the way we're in better shape in a lot of areas just like we are with my future NC and the attainment profile when you look at the state and some of the challenges. Um we're at 85% in public schools and you know really 77% across the state. you've seen this. This is looking at the um just projections with um enrollment and ADM and and some of the the future of that. We shared with them the school capacity um so that they would have some understanding about what does that look like in our elementary, middle, and um of course at the high school
110and how we've got space. It's just some of those areas are more densely populated. Some individual schools have some challenges. They had a lot of questions. I mean, this was one of those where they there was a lot of dialogue and conversation. Um, and naturally, you know, they're hearing that a lot in the community as well, just like we are. Um, Clay did a a wonderful job reminding them that at this point we are 102 days without a budget. Um, and of course, that's um $48 million that we rely on. And so, um, you know, I wish we had more positive news than that. Just we'll move on because there's not much more we can say about it. Um, we're still waiting and maybe waiting for a while. We talked about a little bit about
111safety because obviously with opengate and then with that investment and then some of the new things we've rolled out just to make sure that they understood how critical that partnership was with our school resource officers and with the sheriff's department and the work that's so important across the community. Appreciate all that the sheriff's department does to support our schools. some of these um the anonymous tip line and the safety protocols have been um some some new things that we've done this year and I would say overall has been successful in our schools gave them a little bit of information but you've heard some some detail about that um and and what Preston shared so we kind of gave them a quick overview of that and then um David and his team really emphasized that need
112for the advanced manufacturing and so that's one of the the critical things that we want to point out um how we can equip our students students with the um advanced manufacturing lab and that Golden Leaf Foundation grant. We went over some of those dollars um that that's required for that. This is all information I think that we've had several conversations with you all about and the amount of additional capital funding that is needed by May 26 to make that happen. We're still having conversations. We're still um inching along towards that. And hopefully we'll have some more information in the the coming uh weeks and um for you and maybe next month a little bit better update. Um CTE just helping the commissioners and the community understand what how important CTE is. Not only just for
113equipping our students to be successful, but you look at our CTE students, it's just like a lot of our our um athletes and our band and our music students. When they're involved in something they're passionate about, they're just more successful. We get that and understand that. It's important um that I think that our elected officials and um those in the community understand that as well. By the way, these kinds of things aren't cheap. I mean, you look at some of the equipment that's required for that. Um there there's a a lot of um expense to make that happen as well. McKenzie did a fabulous job just emphasizing some of the needs with our prek programs and early childhood education and and emphasizing that weight list, how we're continuing to try to address that. And then
114of course just highlighting the fact and that that 28% of child care that has been lost due to some private closures. Um helping them unpack that a little bit further and and kind of putting that on their radar and keeping that front and center. And then of course just continued conversations about the need for additional classroom space and support for our families um to increase our our kindergarten readiness. and and it's really helping them also understand the difference between child care, the child care needs, but then early education and how those are really two different things and two different sorts of conversations like there is a need for just child care, but there's still also that critical need for early education, child care care as well. And then Jinda did a a great job um
115really emphasizing um when we're looking at our staff and the percent that actually reside in Davyy County that want to make Davy County home and how they're contributing to um you know property taxes and um um all those things that go with being a resident. how it's in the interest of really for um our elected officials to understand that they um that our classified staff in particular could benefit from some pay increase. Um we're talking about a sustainable living wage um the fact that they contribute to our economy, our local economy, and yet the challenges that come with making sure that we can help support their cost of living. So, we had some conversations about that. Um and that's a very fluid um when it comes to our employees, particularly our classified employees, very fluid.
116You can see that we're all the time hiring and and um people are moving to go for better opportunities, higher higher wages, and so then we've got to fill that. So it seems like once we address an issue, get somebody trained, they might have another opportunity elsewhere, and we lose them. So that's a real challenge um that we hope that everybody understands what that looks like. And then um Clay shared with them just overall some of the budget numbers and what that looks like. We all know most of our expense comes with personnel. Not only does it with salary, but then with the benefits and um of course some of the increases um and Colin will look at this in just a moment, but some of the increase that comes with the benefits that you
117know when we're paying somebody locally, we're picking up the expense to pay for those benefits if they're a full-time employee for us. And this num this right here, this data um you try to put this in a fancy graph or chart or something, but really the numbers just speak for themselves. You can look and see um how much that how that has doubled um from 44 49 to to 10 u million dollars um in 2025 just for the pension and healthcare compet uh compensations or contribution. There was a lot there were some questions with the commissioners about this helping them understand that um Clay and I don't I don't know Right. Yes. And so you can see the number of full-time or covered employees that's dropped, but yet those expenses um have increased as well.
118This was kind of where we were trying to I guess this was the the the point of emphasis. Um there are funding gaps with the advanced manufacturing lab, the need for a classified salary increase, our prek needs, and then just overall facility and infrastructure with aging buildings, making sure that we're able to meet some of that. And so with that, um that's why again that that interlocal agreement, making sure that we're able to sustain and maintain some of the um some of the and meet some of these needs that we have um that that's in place as we look forward kind of into next year. um some of those priorities that we have um for for funding in the future. And that was our presentation. I don't know if you all have any questions. Again,
119that was kind of a a review for most for most of those points. Um certainly not new um new to most of you, but just wanted to give you an update on what that looked like. >> Anybody have questions for Dr. Belture or Clay or Jenda? Any of staff? Well, that's quite a bit of information. Good information, too. Okay. Uh, you're still up, Dr. Belture. Uh, policy revisions. So, I've already referenced two of the policies, 4130 and 4150 are related to discretionary admission and school assignment. Those are just going back to that principal authority to um revoke that transfer. And then the other um policy language relates to the the um high school athletic association and just aligning explicitly in our policy the language um as it applies to that. And so I'm just bringing
120that those two policies 4130 and 4150 for first reading. Um obviously we'll get feedback on that and then um bring that back to action uh for action next month. Um 5150 there's just some language um with this policy related to reporting to external agencies um specifically for um misconduct by licensed employees. And that would include um administrators if they have information um that they built that um a child is at risk or um is being harmed um could be subject to termination and non-renewal and reported that to the state. But most importantly, the biggest piece of information that you'll read over um when you look at that on page three is to the North Carolina uh center for safer schools. And so we have to send them a copy of any kinds of threat assessments
121or procedures or protocols that have been revised related to school safety. There's been a lot of conversation across the state around the center for safer schools. It used to be under the umbrella of of DPI and has shift moved under the SBI, State Bureau of Investigation. Um so there's a lot of reporting requirements that come through that um through the center of safer schools. And so, um, there's just some some partnerships that need to, I would just say, um, some addressing whenever you whenever you something leaves one department, moves to another, there's always some hiccups and some challenges there. And so, we're trying to work through those, but that's why you see that in policy based on really um, some action at the state level. Then you've got 7312 that kind of relates to some
122of that. And this is related mostly to um threats of a child's safety. And this one really is more um some formatting changes where there's been some in section D some updates of a duty for licensed employees to report to the state of um state board of education physical injury um any appropriate inappropriate sexual contact and then um revocation of the employees license. So just some some language updates there that's in line with um with the statute. So, you've got that one in 7312 and then 7910. Um, this is this relates back to some pension spiking and some general statute um requirements um in 135 um 5A3. Um this one's kind of important just for you as a board to understand. This doesn't necessarily impact um the current board um or any current administrative staff,
123but um I think that date is 2015, Clay. So, anybody that was hired um after 2015 that then goes into um uh goes into an administrative position if their pension is at a certain threshold. And Clay, you're probably going to have to >> changes every year. It's currently I think is the number $125,600. >> So, there's a and then that impacts the pension and retirement of said employee. And so this particular provision here basically says that unless that's in say for example the superintendent's contract, unless that provision is specifically in there, then um the board's not responsible for paying that out unless it's within their contract in writing. So that doesn't impact you guys necessarily, but it it will impact future boards um with that. So just wanted to put that in there. um that
124is recommended by the um schoolboard association >> seek reim reelection anyway. >> Okay. Any questions on those policies? If you do, you know where to find me or contact me and I'll be happy to talk through those in more detail if you need to. >> Okay. Is there anyone, Miss Haynes, that has signed up to uh request to speak public? >> I think that Jill would say in light of the fact that we are going to be springing forward this coming weekend, no one signed up to speak and we all need to go home and get some extra sleep to prepare. >> Is that good? >> And speaking of, I I appreciate the patience and attentiveness tonight, you guys. There's obviously a lot and you had had a chance to read it and now you
125read it. You've read it and heard it and read those policies once again and take your questions to uh appropriate staff through the superintendent and make sure our questions are answered before we come back for passage of the policies. And with that, anyone have any closing comments they need to make? Okay. See at the polls if we can get a motion to dismiss. We second it. Have a motion and a second. All in favor raise your hand. Thank you very much. Stephanie, you want to dismiss, too?