On Tuesday, Nov. 4, the Orange County Board of Education met to receive updates on district finances and student outcome data just after the beginning of the second quarter of the school year.
What’s new?
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Anderson, Smith and Wike PLLC, an accounting firm, presented the board with a finance audit report from the previous school year. The audit cost the district $35,000.
- Orange County Schools saved almost $2 million in general fund balance spending over the past two years, according to Dale Smith, an accountant with the firm.
- “We discussed last year during the audit report the district had used a significant amount of fund balance over the ‘22 and ‘23 years, and that you needed to reduce that level of fund balance usage, and y'all did a great job of doing that this past year,” he said.
- The funds balance expenditure last year was $1.5 million and this year was just under $370,000. The $1.5 million in spending is attributed to stipends for the North Carolina elementary school literacy success program, LETRS and the former Superintendent, Monique Felder’s, contract buy-out.
- Other audit highlights included a $13,000 increase in the Board’s government fund balance, mismanagement of school lunch qualification records, deposit issues with Efland Cheeks Elementary and an increase of $326,000 to the Other Special Revenue Fund.
- Literary skills in Orange County elementary school students have increased by eight percent since 2021, but are down two percentage points since last year.
- Student success was collected in a data review presented by Ambra Wilson, executive director of OCS elementary education, and shows percentages of students at minimal risk of not meeting reading standards versus those at a higher risk.
- Last year, 53 percent of students were at minimal risk compared to this year’s 51 percent.
- At the end of the previous school year, Hillsborough Elementary School had the highest margin of students with minimal risk at 83 percent. River Park Elementary School came in second at 76 percent.
- Overall, minimal risk percentages increased for Black students and decreased for Asian and Hispanic students.
- “Our multilingual learners are the student group with the most students at risk based on our beginning of the year data, and they are not experiencing the same rate of change as our other student groups,” Wilson said.
- The board received an update on the Community Eligibility Provision, a program that provides meals to high need students.
- Roughly 94 percent of meals served were reimbursed at the federal no cost rate approved by the state.
- In the first quarter of the school year from Aug. 26 to Sept. 30, participation in the program among elementary school students increased by an average of roughly 12.7 percent.
- “Students were able to try new foods that they wouldn't have otherwise tried if they had to pay for them, and the overall increased student meal participation allows for more students to experience increased health and resulting educational benefits of school meals,” Sara Pitts, school nutrition director, said.
What’s next?
- The next board meeting will take place on Tuesday, Dec. 9 at 6 p.m.
